Scooby Doo and the Mysterious Tape
by SpongeAddict
Summary: COMPLETED. It's the crossover the world has been waiting for. When five teenage boys suddenly die, the gang is swept up in the most thrilling mystery of their lives. This time, the danger is real. Rated T for a reason. SHELMA! And some Fraphne.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Sponge: Hey all! Bet you'd never see me back, huh? Well, believe it or not, here I am. This is not a sequel, it is simply a revised version of the ever-popular story "Scooby Doo and the Mysterious Tape." It came to my attention that we're coming up on the fifth anniversary of when this story was first published. That's pretty incredible, huh? I can't believe it's been five years since I began my Fan Fiction career. A lot has happened since then. And through it all, I never stopped writing. Well…maybe I stopped writing on this website for a while. But the cogwheels in my head were always turning with new ideas, and Scooby and the gang were never far from mind.**

**I'm going to be nineteen at the end of the summer. And as a special treat for my oh-so-loyal fans from five years ago, I've decided to bestow a gift upon you: an updated, edited, better-written version of "Scooby Doo and the Mysterious Tape!" (Also, it's more like the actual movie **_**The Ring**_** and therefore makes more sense.)**

**It's sort of going to be my last hurrah, because this is really the final time that I'll be able to do anything on this website before I go off to college. I can't believe I was thirteen-going-on-fourteen when I wrote this. That's just ridiculous. **

**Just as a word of warning: this fic (if you didn't already know) is rated T for teen, otherwise known as PG-13 in the movie world. The movie **_**The Ring**_** is also rated PG-13 "for thematic elements, disturbing images, language, and some drug references", according to imdb . com. All of these things – except for the drug references and language – will certainly be appearing in this fic. Also, towards the end of the story, things will be getting a bit graphic romantically between two characters. I won't tell you who – although if you read my original story/looked at the fan listing, I'm sure you can guess. (Okay fine, I'll tell you. I ship Shelma. Just like the good folks at Cartoon Network who honest-to-goodness put them in a SECRET RELATIONSHIP in the new Scooby Doo series that's starting on July 12, 2010!) In any case, I'll try not to be TOO graphic. I refuse to make Scooby Doo, the show that I associate childhood purity with, into a lemon.**

**Also, although the redux follows more closely the plot of the actual movie **_**The Ring**_**, it won't be exactly like the movie. This is for two reasons: 1.) I do not want to infringe upon the rights of Dreamworks or anything of the sort. 2.) I have not watched the movie in about five years, and I have no desire to do so any time soon. Isn't that depressing, that I'm still so freaked out by a movie that I saw five years ago? Oh well. Also, I understand that apparently Velma has a younger sister named Madelyn or something to that effect, but she is not in this story. She will probably be mentioned, but she will not appear in my story at all.**

**Oh yes. Imagine all of the Scooby Doo characters in their live-action forms. Or in their cartoon forms, if that's less scary for you. Also, the events of this story take place about four months after the events of the second live-action Scooby Doo movie. Since there was a line in there when Shaggy said, "That was almost exactly like my freshman year in college," I'm assuming that at least three years have passed between the first movie and the second one, making Fred and Daphne 21, Shaggy 22, and Velma 20.**

**Anyway, I sincerely hope that you all enjoy this special update of the first thing I ever published on this website: "Scooby Doo and the Mysterious Tape."**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

Jonathan Gates was lounging on his couch, watching TV. Actually, he wasn't really paying attention to whatever was happening on screen. He wasn't hearing anything that was happening on screen either. Rather, he was listening for the sound of the doorbell. Rose was coming over. Of course, his parents didn't know this. They didn't approve of the eighteen-year-old having his girlfriend over when there were no adults home – though he had done this several times before. His parents were just afraid that their son and his girlfriend would engage in "inappropriate activities" if left unsupervised.

Which they had. Several times. But Jonathan's parents didn't need to know.

Anyway, Jonathan hadn't seen his girlfriend in a week. He'd been camping with his friends at a place in the woods called Shelter Mountain. Jonathan had told his parents that he and four of his friends were doing this to "celebrate finishing high school." In reality, it was an excuse for the five of them to party and get drunk and hang out with their girlfriends during the first week of summer. However, Rose wasn't graduating yet – she still had a year of high school left. So since the underclassmen got out a week later than the seniors, she'd been at school.

Now, however, Jonathan was home, and the underclassmen were done with school as well. So they could see each other.

_Ding-dong_, went the doorbell.

Jonathan sprang up from his position on the couch and ran to the mirror in the front hallway to check his appearance. He saw a tall, decently-built blonde-haired blue-eyed boy of eighteen…whose nose was bleeding. He grabbed a nearby tissue and quickly wiped it away. It was the strangest thing. His nose had been spastically bleeding all week, and he didn't know why. He just hoped it didn't start up again while he and Rose were…doing stuff.

He turned to the left and opened the front door.

"I missed you," said the chestnut-haired girl at the front door, whose brown eyes were shining.

"I missed you too, Rose," said Jonathan, taking her into his arms and leading her up the stairs.

"So…" Rose said. The two of them were nestled underneath the covers of Jonathan's bed.

"So…?" he repeated.

"How was camping?" Rose asked.

"Oh…you know. Crazy. I mean, things usually are crazy with Travis and Ben and Reed and Eric," Jonathan replied. "We drank a lot. We did some swimming and boating and stuff."

"What was it like being completely without technology for a whole week?" Rose knew her boyfriend was a major lover of Xbox, and couldn't imagine him in an environment where he couldn't play the most recent Call of Duty…or at least check his Facebook.

"There was too technology!" Jonathan retorted. "There was a TV. But none of us had brought any video game consoles, and reception was awful, so the only thing we used it for was the VCR player. And that was only one time."

"…One of you boys brought a video cassette?" Rose asked incredulously.

"No, there was one at the place. On the first day, it was raining and we couldn't do anything outside, so we had a couple beers and later that night Reed found this tape on the bookshelf. We were buzzed enough that we decided to watch it…" Jonathan trailed off, lost in thought.

"What was on the tape?"

"That's the weird thing. It was…all these creepy images of stuff. I can't explain it. It was like a tape out of somebody's whacked out nightmare. And then…"

"Yes?"

"When it was over, the phone rang. I answered it. And this creepy voice told me that my friends and I were going to die in seven days…"

"Probably a kid playing a prank," Rose said. Rose was very rational.

"Well yeah, but I mean, if it was real, it would mean I'd die today." Jonathan believed in the supernatural. It made for interesting conversation, but there came a point when it got old.

"Jonathan, you're not going to die today," Rose told him. "That's ridiculous. You're going off to college in the fall, and you've got your whole life ahead of you." She kissed his cheek. "I love you."

"Love you too, babe," Jonathan murmured, obviously still preoccupied by his imminent "death." Rose rolled her eyes and laid her head on his bare chest. They were silent for a few minutes, until Rose perked up suddenly.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered. Jonathan sat up a little, straining his ears. He did hear something, a fuzzy sound, almost like…

"Ugh, I left the TV on downstairs," Jonathan grumbled, shoving the sheets back and rolling off the bed. He pulled his discarded clothes back on and gave his girlfriend a kiss on the nose. "Don't go anywhere." He then left his room and made his way downstairs. There was nothing playing on the TV – only static. Too lazy to change the channel, he simply pressed the power button, hoping that someone else would change the channel the next time they turned the TV on.

However, the next time the TV turned on was about five seconds after Jonathan had turned away from it. Jonathan turned back around, puzzled. There was a picture on the screen now – a black and white shot of a stone well. Water began trickling out of the TV, and Jonathan stared at it, confused and a bit frightened.

Meanwhile, back upstairs, Rose was getting dressed. She had a feeling Jonathan's parents were going to be home soon, and she didn't want him getting in trouble. She trotted down the steps – and splashed into a puddle of water at the bottom of the staircase. She glanced at it, puzzled, and looked around for her boyfriend.

"Jonathan? There's water at the bottom of the stairs here."

There was no response.

"Jonathan?" she called again, rather tentatively. She made her way to the TV room, noticing that the water was flowing from under the door that led into the room. Cautiously, she opened the door a crack.

And screamed.

x.X.x

Meanwhile, next door, a little girl of about seven years old sat at her kitchen table. At the moment, her mother was packing for a three-day business trip, and the little girl was going to be staying with her aunt and her aunt's friends.

"Lorelei?" called a voice from upstairs. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen, Mom," the girl – Lorelei – replied.

"Do you have your suitcase?" Her mother's voice grew louder as she descended the stairs.

"Yes, Mom." Lorelei's mother then stepped into the kitchen and smiled at her auburn-haired daughter. Her smile disappeared, though, when she realized that her daughter's blue eyes were wide with fear.

"Lorelei, are you all right, sweetie?" She put her suitcase down and approached her daughter, enveloping her in a hug. "You're not nervous about staying with Aunt Velma and her friends, are you?"

"No…" This wasn't exactly true. Lorelei was a bit nervous about that, but it wasn't what was currently on her mind at the moment.

_Ding-dong_, went the doorbell.

"Oh, they're here," Lorelei's mother said. "Come on sweetie, let's go." Lorelei held her mothers hand as they walked to the front door. Standing on the other side, when they opened it, were four people and a dog.

"Dottie!" cried one of the people, clad in an orange sweater and glasses as she hugged Lorelei's mother.

"Oh, it's great to see you Velma!" Dottie replied, hugging her younger sister back. Lorelei and Velma's friends stood to the side awkwardly.

"Dot," Velma said, pulling away from her sister. "I'm not sure if you remember my friends from high school…"

"Let's see if I do…" Dottie said, pointing to each person behind her sister in turn. "Fred Jones…Daphne Blake…and…um…Fuzzy? Or something to that effect?"

"Like, it's Shaggy," said the tall man in the green shirt with unkempt hair. Lorelei could see why his nickname was 'Shaggy'. She wondered what his real name was, but she was preoccupied at the moment.

"And _you_, of course, are Scooby Doo!" Dottie said of the giant brown Great Dane that stood at Shaggy's side.

"Rat's right!" the dog barked.

"Mom!" Lorelei said, tugging on the hem of her mother's blouse. She finally realized what was wrong.

"What is it, Lorelei?" Dottie said with a hint of impatience.

"There's someone at the Gates'!" The other adults glanced outside.

"Like…there are no gates…" Shaggy said, confused. Lorelei rolled her eyes.

"Not _fence_ gates," she said exasperatedly. Dottie looked out the door to the right and groaned.

"Ugh. That's Rose Anderson's car," she sighed, pointing to the blue Dodge Caliber parked on the street in front of the house next door.

"Who?" Velma asked. She had just been hoping to pick up her niece and get back to headquarters before it got any later – it was already almost nine o'clock.

"The Gates' are our next-door neighbors," Dottie explained. "Bridget and George went out to eat tonight – I saw their car leave. They have a rule that their son, Jonathan, can't have his girlfriend Rose over when there are no adults home." Dottie sighed again. "He constantly breaks that rule. I would tell his parents, but then I remember what it was like when I was in high school. I hated that rule."

"We had that rule in our house?" Velma asked.

"Well, I guess it never really applied to you – you never really had many guys," Dottie said. "Mom and Dad pretty much forced it on me though…" Dottie sighed. "Well, I guess I'll be going." She gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead. "Be good for Aunt Velma and her friends, dear,"

"I will, Mom," Lorelei said, somewhat uneasily. She had a feeling that Rose wasn't the _only_ other person inside the Gates' house.

Dottie picked up her suitcase, said goodbye to Velma and her friends, and left the house, getting into her car and driving off down the street.

"So…do you have everything, Lorelei?" Velma asked. Lorelei nodded and picked up _her_ suitcase. They were just locking the door behind them, when they heard a shrill, frightened scream come from the house next door.

The Gates' house.

Everyone stared at the house.

"What do you think that was?" Velma murmured.

"There's someone _else_ in the house," Lorelei said. The others looked at her.

"Shouldn't we investigate?" Daphne asked.

"Like no way!" Shaggy cried vehemently. "What if there's like, a ghost in there?"

"Reah! A roast!" Scooby agreed. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Really, you two. If there WERE such things as ghosts, do you really think they would haunt a house in the middle of the suburbs?"

"Like, two words man: _Paranormal Activity_."

"I knew it was a bad idea to let them watch that movie," Daphne grumbled.

"You guys, ghosts and poltergeists aside, what if someone in there is really hurt? We should help them, don't you think?" Velma asked. The others looked at each other, wordlessly. "Well, I think we should," Velma proclaimed. And with that, she marched towards the house, with the others in tow.

"Hello?" Velma called, tentatively trying the door. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. She took a step inside, and was shocked to discover that she stepped into a puddle of water. "Hey gang, come here!" she called as she stepped further into the house. To Lorelei she whispered, "What's the name of the boy who lives here again?"

"Jonathan," Lorelei replied.

"Jonathan?" Velma called. There was no response.

"Hey Velma," Fred said. "It looks like the water is coming from inside this room." Slowly, he opened the door and took a step inside, followed by the others.

The TV was on, but it was only static. In front of the TV was a couch. And lying on the couch was a young blonde man with a look of sheer terror on his face.

Everyone gasped. Lorelei backed up and hid her face in her aunt's sweater.

"Jeepers!" Daphne exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Lorelei, get out of here," Velma said sternly, but quietly. Lorelei obeyed – she sprinted out of the room as if it was on fire. "Scooby and Shaggy, maybe you ought to go with her." The pair looked as white as ghosts.

"Like yeah, okay," Shaggy mumbled, as he and Scooby followed Lorelei out of the room.

"M-maybe someone should check his pulse…" Daphne suggested. Fred stepped forward and put his fingers to the young man's wrist.

"He's dead," he said after a few minutes. Suddenly, there were three screams from outside.

"Oh no," Velma said. "Please don't tell me there's another dead person in this house." She, Fred and Daphne sprinted out of the room and found Shaggy, Scooby and Lorelei dashing out of a closet.

"What were you guys doing inside the coat closet?" Daphne asked as they ran toward each other.

"L-l-like, th-there's a girl in there!" Shaggy stammered.

"A girl?" Fred asked, pushing his way towards the coat closet. There was indeed a girl inside – curled up in a ball on the floor, crying, looking as though she'd never been more terrified in her life. "Are you okay, miss?" Fred asked her. The girl just cried harder.

"I guess we should phone the police…" Velma said, looking back towards the TV room. "And tell them there's been a homicide."

x.X.x

Minutes later, the police arrived, as did Mr. and Mrs. Gates. They were taken into the kitchen for questioning while other policemen and crime scene investigators searched the TV room for evidence. Meanwhile, Rose had been escorted home by other policemen. Mystery Inc. and Lorelei were also in the kitchen with the Gates'.

"How did you discover what had happened?" one of the detectives, a man by the name of Bruce Edelbrock, asked Mystery Inc.

"We heard someone screaming inside," Velma replied. "I suppose it was Rose."

"Was anything out of the ordinary?"

"Well, there was water all over the floor when we came in," Fred answered. "Although, I guess you already gathered that…and there was static on the TV."

"And you didn't see a weapon anywhere at all?" Detective Edelbrock asked.

"Nothing," said Daphne. "He didn't even look as though he'd been hurt." Mrs. Gates – Bridget – sobbed into her husband's shoulder. He patted her on the back, and looked as if he was mustering up all the strength he could not to cry.

"Mr. Gates," said Detective Edelbrock, turning his attention now on the blonde man.

"Please call me George," he muttered.

"George," said the detective. "Can you imagine anyone who would have wanted to hurt your son?" However, it was his wife that answered.

"No," Bridget said through her tears. "He was the sweetest boy. Never made trouble. Always polite to everybody. He was going to go to Clemson in the fall. To play baseball…" That was as far as she got before she collapsed into tears again.

"He went camping with his friends this week," George told the detective. Edelbrock's ears perked up.

"Where?" he asked.

"Some place up north that I've never heard of," George replied. "Shelter Mountain? I think?"

"I've heard of that place," Daphne said. "I used to go up there with my family a lot when I was a kid."

"You _did_?" Fred exclaimed incredulously. "I always heard that was a famous place for…" but he didn't finish his sentence. He had been about to say that Shelter Mountain had been "a famous place for teenagers to get smash drunk and party hard", but he figured that the Gates' didn't need to hear that right then.

"Can you tell me the names of the friends he was camping with?" Detective Edelbrock asked, retrieving a pen and a pad of paper from his pocket.

"Travis Parker," George began. "Ben Thomas, Reed Connors, and Eric Weissman." Detective Edelbrock stopped writing and stared at George for a moment.

"Please excuse me for a moment," he said, pulling out his walkie-talkie and leaving the room.

"What do you suppose _that's_ about?" Fred asked his companions.

"I have no idea…" Daphne replied.

Meanwhile, Lorelei had taken to wandering through the house. She wandered upstairs into a bedroom. There were posters of baseball stars tacked up on the walls, and the sheets were a disgruntled mess. This, Lorelei realized, had been Jonathan's room.

Lorelei hadn't known Jonathan all that well. He'd babysat for her once, but only moments after her mother left, his girlfriend showed up, and they had shut themselves up into the guest bedroom and didn't come out until right before it was time to put Lorelei to bed. Rose left, and Lorelei went to sleep, but she told her mother what had happened the next morning and Dottie never hired Jonathan to care for Lorelei after that.

But still…he'd lived next door to her for her entire life. It was strange to think that he was suddenly dead.

She wandered back downstairs, into the TV room where they'd first found Jonathan. He had been bagged up and taken to the city morgue for an autopsy, but there were still policemen and crime scene investigators milling around, searching for evidence. Lorelei approached the TV. It had been turned off, but she couldn't help wondering if there was something about the TV that could have been important. She touched the bottom of the screen, and noticed that it was a bit moist. _Had the water been coming from the TV?_ Lorelei couldn't believe that. There was sure to be some kind of electrical science that made that impossible. Still…she brought her hands up the screen farther – and it _rippled_ under her touch. She jumped back in surprise, but then she curiously leaned forward. She thought she saw someone's reflection behind her – a reflection of a little girl, no older than herself, with long black hair covering her face.

"_I'm coming for you."_

Lorelei whirled around, but there was nobody there. She turned back to the TV and the reflection was gone. She could have _sworn_ she heard someone's voice say those words…as if they had come from directly behind her. She shuddered, decided that it was her imagination, and returned to the kitchen where the detective was still questioning Velma and her friends.

Scooby and Shaggy weren't partaking much in the conversation – rather, they were partaking in the food that Bridget and George had allowed them to help themselves to. But even they glanced up when Lorelei entered the room, followed by a very distraught looking Detective Edelbrock.

"Mr. and Mrs. Gates, did you know that there were four other homicides that were reported in the tri-city area at nine pm this evening?" he asked the couple.

"N-no, I didn't know that," Bridget stammered.

"Neither did I," George agreed.

"Well, there were," the detective continued. "Two were here in Lyonsville, including your son's. Two were in Coolsville, and the last one was in Nelmsville." Detective Edelbrock stared hard at the Gates'. "Do the names of those cities sound familiar to you?"

"Y-yes," Bridget said. "Those were the towns were Jonathan's friends lived. They all went to Lyonsville High School though because they were drafted through the baseball program."

"Hold on a minute," Fred spoke up. "Are you telling us that _all_ of the boys who stayed at Shelter Mountain last week are dead?"

"Precisely," the detective said. Everyone was silent. "My issue," Edelbrock continued, "is that all of the detectives are working on these homicides, and we don't have any spare time." Fred nudged Velma and raised his eyebrows. Velma shrugged, and Fred cleared his throat.

"Uh, Detective Edelbrock? May I make a suggestion?" he began. The detective nodded for Fred to continue. "My friends and I here belong to a group known as Mystery Inc. Maybe you've heard of us?"

"Your headquarters operates in Coolsville, doesn't it?" George asked. "I've heard about you."

"So have I," said Edelbrock. "You're very well-renowned all over the tri-city area."

"Thank you," Fred said. "Well uh…if we could be of any assistance to you…"

"Our department would appreciate that very much," the detective said. "It would be an honor to work with great detectives such as yourselves." Every single member of the gang blushed – even Scooby.

x.X.x

"So, what are you thinking, Freddie?" asked Daphne as they left the Gates' house that evening.

"Well right now it seems like the only common factor is the fact that they all played baseball at Lyonsville High School, and that they all stayed at Shelter Mountain last week. So I'm thinking we should check out those places first."

"You mean…split up?" Daphne asked. "How are we going to do that? We've only got the Mystery Machine."

"Mom's got another car in the garage," Lorelei spoke up. The adults gazed down at her.

"She does?" Velma asked, incredulous. Dottie had been driving the same champagne-colored Buick for as long as Velma could remember.

"Well, I guess it isn't really _hers_," Lorelei admitted. "It was Dad's. Mom never drives it, though." Fred, Daphne, and Shaggy glanced at one another. They didn't know what happened to Dottie's husband, and they didn't think it appropriate to ask Velma – at least not at the current moment.

"There are keys to the car on the key ring that Mom gave you," Lorelei told her aunt. Velma fingered the key ring and sighed.

"All right," she said. She typed in the garage code, got into the car (a white Acura) and backed out of the garage. Lorelei climbed into the car with her aunt.

"We'll see you back at headquarters," Velma called out to the others as she careened down the road. Lorelei at the window, though she was seeing more of her reflection than the scenery. She couldn't help thinking of the _other_ reflection – the one she'd been so sure she'd seen in the television at the Gates' house. And she couldn't stop thinking of the voice either – the one that said _"I'm coming for you." _Had Lorelei been imagining things? Or had that really happened.

Whichever it was, Lorelei was eager to find out.

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**Sponge: Whoo! Chapter one is out of the way! I hope you enjoyed it! Also, interesting tidbit of information: Rose's car and the two cars that belong to Lorelei's family? They are based off of actual cars in my life. The blue Dodge Caliber belongs to a friend of mine. The champagne Buick is the car that I drive, and the white Acura is the car that my ex-boyfriend drives. Every car I mention in this fic – other than the Mystery Machine and taxis and buses obviously – are cars that are actually in my life, or were in my life at some points. Anyway…review and I promise that chapter two will be along shortly!**


	2. Chapter 2: Day 0

**Sponge: Here's chapter two! And a disclaimer: I don't own Scooby Doo or **_**The Ring. **_**I can't believe I forgot a disclaimer. I'm an awful person. Also: near the end of the chapter, there's a small insult directed towards blondes. My apologies if anyone reading this is blonde. I know that not all blondes are "dumb". In any case: here's chapter two!**

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**Chapter Two: Day 0**

"I'm still not sure how I feel about this," Fred was saying the next morning.

"Like, me neither," Shaggy agreed. "Like, Scooby and me have NEVER been split up before."

"Scooby and _I_," Lorelei corrected him. Shaggy scratched his head. Good gosh, the girl was a grammar Nazi at seven? She had to be related to Velma.

"That's not exactly what I'm talking about," Fred told Shaggy. Quietly, to Velma, he said, "Are you _sure_ you're okay bringing Lorelei into this?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't be bringing her with me," Velma responded. "Besides, Lorelei's a pretty observant kid. I bet she'll find something at Shelter Mountain that Scooby and I wouldn't have otherwise." Fred was still skeptical that a little girl could help out with such a big mystery, but he knew better than to argue with Velma. So he sighed and relented.

"So it's decided, then," he said. "Shaggy and I will go talk to the parents of the other boys who went to Shelter Mountain, Daphne will talk to Rose, and Scooby, Velma and Lorelei will go to Shelter Mountain." Originally, Fred had wanted to check out Lyonsville High School and talk to the coach of the baseball team, but it was a Saturday, and school was no longer in session anyway, so the coach was on vacation.

"Like, can I just ask again why me and Scoob – Scoob and _I_ have to be split up?" Shaggy corrected himself, glancing pointedly at Velma's niece.

"Because the more ground we can cover in the shortest amount of time, the better," Fred replied. "Most of our cases have had to do with counterfeiters, thieves, and random hauntings. And yes, we've had some cases where there were real monsters involved who wanted to take over the world. But there have never been any deaths before. This isn't just some hokey fake anymore. This is real. And we have to solve the mystery – fast." The others were silent for a moment or two before Daphne broke it.

"So are we just going to stand around here, or are we going to solve a mystery?" she asked enthusiastically. The others smiled and went their respective ways – Velma, Scooby and Lorelei to the Acura, and Shaggy, Fred and Daphne to the Mystery Machine.

"I'll call you if we find anything," Velma called out the window.

"So will we! Good luck!" Fred called back before they careened out of headquarters and headed in their separate directions.

x.X.x

It took Fred, Shaggy and Daphne a shorter period of time to reach Lyonsville than it took Velma, Lorelei and Scooby to reach Shelter Mountain. First, Fred and Shaggy were going to drop off Daphne at Rose Anderson's house. They had gotten her address from the Gates' the previous night, and from the houses they were passing, it seemed as though Rose lived in a pretty ritzy neighborhood.

"Gosh," Fred said. "Who knew they had nice houses like this in Lyonsville?"

"This is the house," Daphne said as they approached a large Victorian. Shaggy let out a low whistle.

"Like, wow," he breathed. "This family must like, have money falling out of their ears, eh Scoo-" But before he could finish, he remembered that his best friend was not with him. Geez, it was WEIRD to be traveling without his closest companion.

"You guys go on ahead to the Connors' house," she told Fred and Shaggy – they were the other family that lived in Lyonsville. "When I need to be picked up, I'll call."

"Be careful, Daph," Fred said, out of habit more than anything else. Daphne rolled her eyes – she would be fine.

She approached the door without any hesitance. Her childhood home had not been much different from this – in fact, she thought, the Blake Mansion had probably been bigger than this place. She rang the bell and not two moments later, a tall butler opened the door.

"How may I help you, Miss?" the butler asked.

"Um," Daphne began. "My name is Daphne Blake. I'm a detective. I was wondering if I could speak with Rose Anderson?"

"I am terribly sorry, Miss Blake, but Miss Anderson is not at home."

"Could you tell me when she'll be back?" Daphne asked. The butler sighed and looked around surreptitiously.

"Miss Blake, you say you are a detective?"

"Yes."

"Then you are aware of the events that Miss Anderson witnessed last night?"

"Yes sir," Daphne replied. "From what I understand, she watched her boyfriend be killed. I need to speak with her about what exactly it was that she saw."

"Miss Blake, I'm afraid you do not understand. Miss Anderson has been institutionalized."

That hadn't been what Daphne had been expecting.

"She…what?"

"Miss Anderson was so disturbed by whatever it was she saw at the Gates' house, that she has gone completely mad. Can't speak. Can't make eye contact. Her parents decided the best course of action was to have her looked at by professional medics."

"So…so they sent her to a _psych ward_?" Daphne exclaimed incredulously.

"You sound as if you do not agree with Mister and Missus Anderson's methods,"

"They sent their daughter to an insane asylum!"

"It is not an insane asylum, Miss Blake. Do not speak of that which you have no idea," the butler said rather menacingly. And with that, he shut the door in her face.

"Well, NOW what am I supposed to do?" Daphne sighed, taking a seat on the porch swing. She sat there for a moment or two until she suddenly got an idea.

"I knew this phone would come in handy someday," Daphne murmured to herself as she flipped out her iPhone and began searching for local psych hospitals. There was only one in the tri-city area…and lucky for her, it was right in Coolsville. Grinning to herself, she saved the address of the hospital and called a taxi to take her back to Coolsville.

x.X.x

"Like, so whose house are we going to first?" Shaggy asked.

"Reed Connors," Fred replied. "Bridget said that he was Jonathan's best friend since grade school." It didn't take too long for them to reach the Connors' house – their neighborhood wasn't too far away from Rose's, although it was less ritzy. They also had no problem finding the house – it had to be the one that had the multitude of police cars in front of it.

"Well, here goes nothing," Fred sighed, taking the keys out of the ignition and stepping out of the van. The minute the two men walked into the house, they were met with a rather familiar face.

"Like, Detective Edelbrock?" Shaggy asked.

"Mr. Jones! Mr. Rogers! I was hoping you would be showing up," the detective exclaimed as he approached them. "I'm interviewing Mr. and Mrs. Connors. Their late son's girlfriend April Walker is in the living room. If you wouldn't mind…?"

"Of course not," Fred said amicably as he and Shaggy made their way towards the room Detective Edelbrock had pointed out. Sitting on a brown leather couch was a girl of about eighteen with red hair and green eyes, staring at a framed picture that she held in her lap of a handsome brown-haired, brown-eyed young man. Reed, Fred and Shaggy guessed.

"April Walker?" Fred asked tentatively. The girl looked up upon hearing her name and wiped her eyes.

"Yes?" she replied, her voice quivering.

"I'm Fred Jones," Fred said softly, sitting beside her. "This is my friend Shaggy. We're here to ask you some questions, if you don't mind?" April shook her head and blew her nose with a tissue from a nearby box. While Fred sat beside her on the couch, Shaggy opted for the brown leather armchair on the other side of the coffee table. He'd never been really great at comforting people – especially girls. He'd always left that up to Fred. He always seemed to know what to do when Daphne or Velma was upset…although Shaggy had to admit that he wasn't a huge fan of Fred holding Velma. Even if it was only when she was upset about something.

"How long had you been seeing Reed?"

"Almost a year," April hiccupped. "He was the best thing that happened to me. We did everything together. Even when he was at Shelter Mountain with his friends, he and the guys had us all sneak up there for a night."

"Us?" Fred frowned. "Who's 'us'?"

"The other girlfriends. Except Rose of course, cuz she was still in school. But the rest of us were seniors, so one night Reed, Travis, Eric and Ben invited me, Josie, Leigh and Katrina up for a night."

"Like, what was Jonathan doing while his friends were all like, having fun with their girlfriends?" Shaggy accidentally wondered aloud. April shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. "I think maybe he was asleep or something, cuz nobody saw him all night."

"Was there anyone else at the cabin the night you girls went there?" Fred asked April. She shook her head.

"No, I didn't see anyone. But all of the boys seemed a little…off."

"Off how?" Fred asked.

"Like, they weren't themselves exactly," April elaborated. "I mean on the surface we were all dancing and partying and having a good time, but…it was like they were all worried about something else. The weird part was it wasn't just Reed. It was _all_ the boys. I'm sure Jonathan would have been out of it too if he'd been there." Tears sprung to April's eyes. "I miss Reed so much…"

"I know," Fred said, patting April's shoulder. And again, Shaggy wondered how he did it. How could he cause the girl to relax just by simply patting her on the shoulder a couple times? It didn't make any sense to Shaggy. He was so engrossed by these thoughts, that he almost completely missed the next part of the conversation.

"I asked Reed what was bothering him and he said…" April broke off.

"Said what, April?"

"I'm sure it's nothing. I mean, things like this don't exist, right?"

"Things like what?"

"Cursed videotapes." That was the piece of dialogue that caught Shaggy's attention.

"Like, cursed what now?" he said.

"Videotapes," April whispered. "Reed said they'd found this videotape in the place, and they were tipsy, so they watched it, and when it was over, the phone rang and a voice told them they were going to die in seven days…" Shaggy's eyes grew to the size of teacup saucers.

"Like, zoinks!" he exclaimed.

"Calm down, Shaggy," Fred chided. To April, he said, "Did you watch the tape?"

"No," April replied, shaking her head. "Reed pointed out where it was, on some bookshelf, but I didn't watch it."

"What day did you ladies go up there?" Fred asked.

"Thursday. We stayed till Friday morning, when the boys all went home."

"That was yesterday," Fred realized.

"They had watched the video exactly a week ago yesterday," April told Fred.

"Like, okay that proves it!" Shaggy exclaimed, standing up.

"What proves _what_, Shag?"

"The voice like, said the boys were going to die in seven days, right?" Shaggy said. "Like, if they watched it a week ago Friday, then OBVIOUSLY the cursed videotape is what killed them." Shaggy paused. "Zoinks. Like, did I just solve the mystery?"

"No Shaggy," Fred sighed. "April's right. There's no such thing as cursed video tapes. There must be a logical explanation for this." Fred also stood up and shook April's hand. "Thank you for your cooperation, April. You've been very helpful."

"Like, I still think it's the cursed videotape," Shaggy hissed as he and Fred exited the Connors' house.

"For the last time Shaggy, it is NOT a cursed videotape. I still think the common factor is Shelter Mountain."

"Like yeah…WHERE THE BOYS WATCHED THE TAPE."

"We're not arguing about this anymore, Shaggy! I'm right, you're wrong." Fred climbed into the drivers' seat of the Mystery Machine. "I do want to talk to the other girls who were at Shelter Mountain on Thursday, though." He glanced at a list of addresses that April had given him. Katrina Zartman lived in Nelmsville, as had her boyfriend Ben Thomas. Josie Sharpe and her boyfriend Travis Parker lived in Coolsville, as did Leigh McCampbell and her boyfriend Eric Weissman.

"Let's go see Katrina first then," Fred said.

"Like, shouldn't we call Velma or something and tell her what we found out?" Shaggy asked.

"We didn't really find out anything, other than the fact that the girls visited the cabin on Thursday."

"And that the boys like, watched a cursed videotape."

"Allegedly cursed," Fred corrected him. Shaggy sighed.

"Like fine. _Allegedly._ But like, still. Velma should know, since she's like, going up to Shelter Mountain right now." It was Fred's turn to sigh. He knew Shaggy was right. So he begrudgingly pulled out his cell phone and dialed Velma's number.

x.X.x

Meanwhile, back in Coolsville, Daphne had arrived at the Coolsville Psychiatric Ward. She stepped out of the taxi, paid the driver the fare, and walked towards the glass doors of the hospital.

She was met at the front desk by a smiling young man whose green eyes sparkled under his brown bangs.

"Hello," he said. "How can I help you?"

"I'm here to visit one of your patients," Daphne answered. "She's rather new…Rose Anderson?" The man clicked through some names on the computer, and frowned.

"I'm afraid she's unable to have visitors," the man said. "It seems she suffered a horrific event last night-"

"Yes, she watched her boyfriend die," Daphne interrupted. The man glanced up at her and stared.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I'm a detective. Daphne Blake," she introduced herself.

"Adam Starkey," the man behind the desk replied. "Are you here to investigate?"

"Yes," Daphne said. "I think that Rose can help us if she tells us what she saw."

"You'd be wasting your time if you went in there, Miss Blake," Adam told her. "She isn't speaking yet. She's been shocked into silence."

"Do the doctors have any idea when she'll be better?" Daphne asked him. Adam shrugged behind the desk.

"It could be tomorrow. It could be next week. It could be never. Honestly, anything's possible," he told her. Daphne sighed, defeated.

"Well," she said, taking out a piece of paper from her purse. "The minute she's no longer figuratively comatose-" she scribbled a number onto the paper "-will you give me a call?"

"Of course," said Adam, his smile returning. "I'll contact you as soon as I hear anything."

"Thank you, sir," Daphne smiled back. But as soon as she was out of the building, her smile fell. She hadn't been able to come up with anything.

She was useless.

With a sigh, she dialed Fred's number to report her failed mission.

"The Rose idea was a bust, Freddie," she confessed as soon as he picked up. "I went to her house, but the butler told me that she'd been institutionalized because of whatever it was that she saw last night, so I took a cab to the psych ward, but she's physically unable to speak. I haven't been able to come up with anything. I'm really sorry."

"Well if it's any consolation, Shag and I haven't hit much pay dirt either," Fred told her.

"It's not a consolation," Daphne told him. "I thought our job was to solve this mystery fast."

"Like, we did find out SOMETHING," Daphne heard Shaggy's voice say in the background.

"Yeah, but nothing important," Fred said over his shoulder.

"_What_ are you two talking about?" Daphne asked. She heard Fred sigh on the other end of the line.

"One of the girlfriends told us that the boys watched some sort of video tape that allegedly kills the person who watches it a week later," Fred told her. Daphne heard the doubt in his voice.

"When did the boys watch the tape?" Daphne asked.

"…A week ago yesterday," Fred admitted. "But it proves nothing."

"Freddie, this is the only lead we have! Please tell me that you called Velma and told her to look for the tape."

"Yeah, we called her. She had just gotten into the cabin when she got my call. Apparently they'd had some issues getting in or something."

"But they're in now?" Daphne asked.

"Yep," Fred replied. Daphne sighed.

"Well, let's just hope that she, Lorelei and Scooby have more luck than we've had so far," she said.

x.X.x

When Velma, Scooby and Lorelei had first arrived at Shelter Mountain Inn, they had no idea how they were going to find anything.

"There are several cabins," Velma realized. "How are we supposed to know which one the boys stayed in?" Lorelei pointed at one building that was significantly different from the others.

"I think that's the check-in building," Lorelei said. "Maybe we could ask someone for help?" Velma shrugged.

"That sounds simple enough," she said.

Unfortunately, it was too simple.

The blonde haired woman behind the desk, who couldn't have been much older than Velma herself, had a nametag that said 'Deanna' in big block letters, and an ever-present scowl on her face. Her scowl turned into a smirk, however, when she saw Velma. Deanna wore a blue, tight fitting V-neck shirt and short-shorts. An outfit that showed off her figure. Velma, on the other hand, was in her baggy orange sweater, pleated red skirt, orange knee socks and, of course, her glasses. She looked like a complete dork next o Deanna.

_Suddenly, I'm reminded of high school_, Velma thought bitterly.

"Can I help you?" Deanna said through her smirk.

"Yes," Velma answered, trying her very best to be professional. "My name is Velma Dinkley. I'm a detective-"

"Dinkley?" Deanna snickered. Velma felt her face turn the color of her skirt. "A detective, huh? What exactly are you investigating?"

"A string of homicides, which appear to have started at your camping facility," Velma said boldly. Lorelei and Scooby, who were waiting outside and watching through the window, looked at each other, surprised.

"Go, Aunt Velma!" Lorelei whispered to herself. She knew that her aunt was rather shy – unless it came to a case. When Velma Dinkley needed to get the job done, she got it done. No matter how blunt she needed to be.

Deanna bristled. "How dare you-" she began.

"Five boys stayed here last week," Velma interrupted. "What cabin were they staying in?"

"They were in cabin twelve," Deanna spat, "but if you think I'm going to let you in there so that you can investigate your little 'homicide' and give my campground a bad name, then you can forget about it! I have the right to refuse service to anyone – and I'm refusing service to you. So you can just get the heck off the premises!" Deanna pointed to the door from whence Velma had entered. Velma, her face still crimson in hue, could think of nothing else to do but turn on her heel and storm out of there.

"What happened?" Lorelei asked. "What did she tell you?"

"Cabin 12," Velma replied through clenched teeth. "But there's no way we'll get in."

"Or is there…" Lorelei murmured, glancing at Scooby.

x.X.x

A few minutes later, Lorelei and Scooby re-emerged from the Acura, where Lorelei had found an old trench coat and hat that once belonged to her father. Scooby was now clad in this attire, and not looking too happy about it.

"Lorelei, what's all this?" Velma asked her niece suspiciously.

"Well, the lady won't give you the key cuz she knows what you're up to, and she probably won't give me the key, cuz I'm just a kid. But if we disguise Scooby as a human, maybe _he_ can get the key."

"Lorelei, you've got good intentions," Velma said. "But any fool would see through that disguise in an instant."

"Never underestimate the stupidity of blondes, Aunt Velma," Lorelei replied, shoving a very reluctant Scooby towards the door. Velma scowled. She knew a great deal of brilliant blondes – Fred Jones among them. Heck, even Lorelei's own mother was blonde! Although, Dottie's natural hair color was more of a light brown color – the blonde was dyed in.

Meanwhile, inside the check-in building, Scooby approached the desk waveringly.

"Lorelei, are you _sure_ this is a good idea?" Velma whispered to her niece from the spot they watched from.

"Well, it's the best one we've had so far," Lorelei replied.

"Ran Rye rave ra rey ro rabin relve rease?" Scooby barked. Lorelei and Velma both turned pale.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all," Lorelei muttered. Inside, Deanna eyed the dog.

"Excuse me?" she said. "Could you repeat that?"

_This isn't going the way I'd hoped,_ Lorelei thought. _I'll have to intervene._ With that, she got up from her hiding place and marched straight for the doors.

"What-no-_Lorelei!_" Velma hissed as she watched her niece spring up from her crouched position.

"Uh, sorry," Lorelei said as she entered the building and stood next to Scooby. "My um…my _uncle_ has a speech problem. It's really difficult for people who don't know him to understand him, so usually, I just speak for him." Deanna eyed Lorelei suspiciously, but she seemed to accept the excuse.

"Can I help you with something, little girl?" she asked. Lorelei scowled at being called 'little girl', but she didn't acknowledge it.

"My uncle and I need a place to stay for the night. Could you possibly give us a cabin to stay in?" Deanna did some checking on her computer.

"Yes, I can do that. May I suggest a cabin?"

"I guess…" Lorelei faltered. She hadn't been expecting this.

"Our cheapest cabin to stay in is number twelve."

_Yes!_ Lorelei exclaimed in her head. "I'm sure that'll be fine, right Uncle…uh…Mark?"

"Rertainly, Rorelei!" Scooby said.

"Last name, please?" Deanna said, fingers poised above the keyboard.

"Um…Doo," Lorelei said. Outside, Velma grimaced.

"Doo?" Deanna repeated, staring at Lorelei. "D-O-O?"

"Yeah," Lorelei replied. Deanna shrugged to herself and handed over the key to cabin twelve. With that, Lorelei and Scooby left the check-in building and made their way to Velma's hiding place.

"I'm impressed, Lorelei," Velma said. Lorelei beamed.

"Thanks, Aunt Velma!" she said. "Now, let's go solve a mystery!"

x.X.x

Just as they reached the cabin, Velma's cell phone rang. The little screen on the outside displayed Freddie's number.

"Hi, Fred. I had some problems getting into the cabin, so I just got here and haven't found anything yet. Have you guys?" Velma asked.

"Well…no," Fred said, but suddenly there was a muffled sound, and a whisper of _"Shaggy!"_ before another voice came on the phone.

"Like, hi Velma," Shaggy said. "Like, we did kind of find out something."

"It's a moot point, Shag," Fred said. "It's not exactly pertinent to the case."

"_What_ isn't, Fred?" Velma asked, getting rather impatient.

"What should we look for, Aunt Velma?" Lorelei asked.

"Lorelei, why don't you and Scooby go search in the surrounding woods for a few minutes?" Velma suggested, putting her hand over the phone. Lorelei didn't really think anything useful could be found outside, but she could see that her aunt was busy, so she pulled Scooby by the collar and led him outside. On the other end of the phone, Fred sighed and took the phone back from Shaggy.

"We talked to the girlfriend of one of the dead boys," Fred told Velma. "Apparently, all of the girlfriends except Rose went up to Shelter Mountain to party with their boyfriends on Thursday, but according to the girlfriend, all the boys seemed 'out of it.' So she asked them what was the matter, and they told her that almost a week ago, they'd watched this video tape, and after the tape was over, they got a phone call that told them they were going to die in seven days."

"…What?" Velma said. She was inside the cabin now. There was a sofa and a coffee table, a bookshelf, a rug, a TV set, and four bedrooms. She took stock of everything she saw as she listened to Fred's voice. "Where did the boys find this tape?"

"Apparently, inside the cabin, on one of the shelves in the bookcase." Velma paused and turned to the bookshelf.

"Is the video marked?" she whispered.

"Not according to April – the girlfriend. Why?"

"I just found an unmarked video tape in exactly the place she said it would be," Velma replied. Upon hearing this, Shaggy grabbed the phone out of Fred's hands.

"Like, don't watch it Velma!" he cried.

"_Shaggy!_" Fred grumbled, trying to get his phone back and drive at the same time. "It was probably just some kid playing a prank."

"Like, fine," Shaggy said. "But like, just in case…please don't watch it, Velms."

"Well, I'm going to search for a little bit," Velma said. "Thanks for calling me guys. I'll call if I find out anything else." And with that, she hung up and stared at the tape. It seemed normal enough. And Velma didn't believe in that kind of hokey horror story anyway – despite all the horrors she and her friends had faced.

So against her better judgment, she turned the TV on and popped the video into the VCR.

The first thing that happened was static. The next image was a ring of light. Next was a smiling woman standing in front of a mirror, combing her long black hair. It was almost as if she was looking at Velma through the screen. Suddenly, the mirror turned, and a little girl with long black hair, probably no older than Lorelei, backed away from it. Next was a house with a face peering out of an upstairs window. A myriad of other images followed, some seemingly normal, some exceedingly disturbing. A glass of water on a counter. A chair. A rusty nail. The eye of a horse. Someone vomiting. A tree. The same tree, with a ring of leaves surrounding it. The same tree again, in flames. The chair, now floating in mid-air, spinning around. The rusty nail, impaling a finger.

Velma grimaced at that last shot.

The scenes continued changing. The window, now devoid of any face. The woman at the mirror, now falling off a cliff. A ladder. A barn. A dead horse on the seashore. A face struggling against a black plastic trash bag. A view of the sea, with a fly in the top corner of the screen. The ladder fell to the ground. The final shot was of a stone well.

And then the screen went back to static.

Velma breathed deeply, trying to get her heart rate back to normal. Right when she believed she'd succeeded though, the phone rang. Velma stared at it for a few seconds. _Who in the world would possibly call this number? _Maybe it was Deanna. Maybe she'd figured out that Scooby and Lorelei had tricked her.

"Hello?" Velma answered tentatively. There was a slight pause.

"_Seven days_," said the voice on the other end.

Velma slammed the phone back into the receiver, breathing in short, rapid bursts. She glanced back at the TV, which was still static. She turned it off and ejected the tape from the VCR and stared at it.

_What in the world just happened?_

x.X.x

Meanwhile, back in Coolsville, Fred, Shaggy and Daphne had returned to headquarters after very fruitless missions. They were currently waiting for Velma, Scooby and Lorelei to return from Shelter Mountain. Velma had called about twenty minutes ago to say that they were on their way, but so far it had been half an hour and there was no sign of her. Needless to say, the other gang members were getting rather worried.

Suddenly, who should come through the door but Velma herself, with Scooby and Lorelei in tow.

"Like, Scoob!" Shaggy cried, as he and his best friend ran toward each other happily. Lorelei also seemed pretty pleased.

"I found a clue!" she proclaimed.

"You did?" Fred and Daphne said incredulously. Shaggy and Scooby were still too preoccupied with each other to pay much attention.

"She did," Velma replied, though rather listlessly. She wore a small smile, indicating that she was proud of her niece, but Daphne and Fred thought she seemed a bit…off. As if her thoughts were elsewhere. "Show them what you found, Lorelei." The auburn-haired girl reached into her pocket and produced a photo.

"I found this in one of the bedrooms at the cabin," Lorelei told them proudly. Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby (who had calmed down) peered down to look at the photograph that Lorelei held in her hands.

It was of five boys, that much was certain. They were outside, surrounded by a bunch of trees, with a cabin with the number "12" painted on it in the background. The weird thing about the photo was that the faces of all the boys were blurry.

"What do you suppose the blurred faces mean?" Daphne asked.

"Beats me," Fred replied. He was about to say something else, before he was tapped on the arm by Velma and led away from the group.

"Don't tell Shaggy," she said once they were out of earshot. "But I watched that tape."

"You did?" Fred asked. "And…?"

"I think it's for real," she replied. "I got the same phone call that the boys did."

Fred furrowed his brow, unsure of how to respond.

"That's not all," Velma continued. "Do you know why it took us so long to get home? We had to pull over because my nose started bleeding – a lot." She stared at him. "Noses don't just start bleeding all by themselves, Freddie."

"I still don't know, Velms…" Fred said, still skeptical.

"There's something else I haven't told you yet," Velma continued. "When my sister Dottie, Lorelei's mother, was in college, she had a roommate named Rachel Keller. She went on to be a reporter, and a year or two back, she did this story on a tape that kills the viewer." She pulled the tape out of her bag. "A tape like this."

"If you believe in the power of the tape Velma, why did you bring it back here?" Fred asked.

"Because I'm going to study it," Velma said. "And I'm going to get Patrick to help me."

"…Patrick?" Fred was confused. "Didn't you guys break up like, three months ago?"

"We ended things on good terms, Fred. We're still friends. Besides, he knows things about film. But I wanted you to know that the tape is going to be around. I'll keep it hidden, but you have to promise me that you won't watch it. And you have to warn Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby, too. Only I don't want them to know what it is. Just tell them that the drawers in my nightstand are off limits, okay?"

"Velma, the tape is a fake."

"You don't know that, Fred. We know that real monsters and magic exist. Who's to say this isn't real?"

"I don't know, Velms…"

"Please just promise me that you'll help me make sure that everyone is safe," she said, her brown eyes blaring with ferocity behind her glasses.

"Fine, I'll help. But why won't you let _us_ help _you_, instead of your ex-boyfriend?"

"…Let's just say that Patrick owes me a favor and leave it at that," Velma muttered. "Besides, I don't want to endanger you."

"But you're just fine with endangering Patrick?" He'd said it completely in jest, but Velma seemed to take offense.

"Of course not! You're reading into things, Fred. He probably won't even agree to watch the tape. Listen, I'm going to call Patrick tomorrow – right now I'm really not feeling so great."

"Yeah, it's late you should get some sleep. We've all been running around the tri-city area all day," Fred told her. "So, what should the plan for tomorrow be?"

"I don't want anyone else to know that I have the tape here – _or _that I watched it. So why don't you take everyone back to the Gates' house so you can show Detective Edelbrock the clue that Lorelei found."

"Even Lorelei?" Fred asked.

"_Especially _Lorelei," Velma told him. "There is no way I'm going to have her around while Patrick and I are studying the tape."

"What exactly are you hoping to gain from studying the tape?" Fred wondered.

"Maybe if I knew where it was filmed, I could figure out the origins and find a way to reverse the curse," Velma told him.

"Why don't you just call your sister? Didn't you say that the original person that this happened to was her college roommate?"

"Yes, but I don't want to involve Dottie unless I absolutely have to. She's only gone for three days, but if she knew that we'd already stumbled onto a mystery while her daughter was with us – especially one as dangerous as this – I don't know what she'd do." Velma sighed. "Besides, I'm not even sure if she knows where Rachel lives now."

"Okay, it's all right. It was just a suggestion," Fred said. "Around what time would you say you watched the tape?"

"I don't know…but the sun was setting."

"All right. So IF the curse is real, then we've got until sunset next Saturday to solve the mystery. So we'll have to work fast. I'll help in whatever ways I can."

"Thank you, Fred," Velma said, smiling. "That's just what I needed to hear."

* * *

**Sponge: All righty! There goes chapter two! I know what some of you are saying: "What? But Patrick wasn't in the ORIGINAL version of this fic! And neither were all these girlfriends!" Well, this is a redux. There will be some things different in this fic than in the original. Some will be subtle, some will be not-so-subtle. But nonetheless, I hope that you will still enjoy the story. **

**Also, in case you didn't notice, there was a subtle reference in this chapter to two of my favorite musical artists of all time. I won't make you guess because I stink at guessing games. It was the guy behind the desk at Coolsville Psychiatric Ward. His first name, Adam, comes from Adam Young, a.k.a the Owl City guy. (Random note: I freaked myself out while I was writing the scene where Velma watches the tape, so in order to de-freak myself, I started listening to Owl City on repeat, very loudly. The song "The Bird and the Worm" reminds me of Shaggy and Velma for some reason…) His last name comes from Richard Starkey, who you all probably better know as Ringo Starr (a.k.a the drummer for The Beatles.)**

**Anyway: please review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Day 1

**Sponge: Hey everyone! I'm back again – and this time I brought a friend! Its name is Chapter 3! I think you'll like it a lot. At least, I hope you will. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. All lyrics to the song "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" belong to Jeff Magnum and Neutral Milk Hotel. Also, near the end of the chapter, I steal a line directly from an episode of **_**Scrubs. **_**That line belongs to Bill Lawrence. And all lyrics to the song "Tell Her About It" are the property of Billy Joel.**

**Now that I've got all those disclaimers out of the way…enjoy chapter 3!**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Day 1**

Velma sat bolt-upright in bed in a cold sweat for about the twelfth time since she's gone to sleep. She was being plagued by nightmare after nightmare. But they were the kind of nightmares that are forgotten as soon as the person having the nightmare wakes up. Velma put her hand to her chest and breathed deeply in an attempt to get her heart rate back to normal.

Suddenly there was a knock on her door.

"Velma?" said the voice on the other side. "Like, it's Shaggy. Are you all right?"

"I-I'm fine…" Velma gasped, lying through her teeth.

"Like, I heard you scream. Can I come in?"

"Sure." Velma wasn't surprised that Shaggy had heard her. His room was actually right next to hers. Because of this, Velma knew almost everything about Shaggy's sleep habits. She knew that he kicked Scooby at least ten times before the dog stopped snoring. She knew that he talked in his sleep on occasion. She knew that he dreamt about food (although really, what _else _would he dream about?) She knew that if Scooby ever woke up from a bad dream, Shaggy would calm him down by petting him and softly singing him a song. Even though Shaggy was terribly off-key, it made Velma smile, and Scooby always fell right back to sleep.

What she _didn't_ know, however, was that Shaggy slept shirtless. So when he walked into her room wearing only a pair of pajama pants, Velma felt her face go crimson. It was lucky that her room was pretty dark and that Shaggy couldn't tell how much Velma was blushing. She wasn't even sure why this was. She'd seen him shirtless before – when they went to the beach and things like that. But this time…she didn't know. Maybe because it was dark out? Maybe because he was in her room? Maybe because he was coming over and sitting directly next to her on the bed?

Velma, clad in an orange T-shirt and red pajama shorts, felt herself getting incredibly warm when Shaggy sat beside her.

"Like, what's going on?" Unbeknownst to Velma, Shaggy, too, was awfully nervous. He'd gone to her room on impulse, after hearing a terrified shout come from it. It wasn't until he actually walked into her room that he remembered that he was _useless_ when it came to comforting people. Hadn't he just been thinking that yesterday, as he watched Fred comfort April? (And later, Katrina, Leigh and Josie?) But it was too late to go back now, so he simply sat beside her. On her bed. At night. While he wasn't wearing a shirt.

Shaggy was glad it was so dark and that Velma couldn't tell how red his face was.

He swallowed before asking, "Did you like, have a bad dream?" Then, to his utter astonishment, his hand drifted towards her shoulder and perched itself there. Even more surprisingly, Velma didn't recoil at his touch. Instead she seemed to…almost relax under it. He was absolutely baffled.

"I've had several bad dreams all night," Velma confessed. She had to admit to herself, she'd had to fight back a shiver when Shaggy touched her shoulder. It wasn't a shiver of disgust, just one of shock. Shaggy had never been one for comforting – if anyone, it was only Scooby he gave reassuring pats to. But Velma allowed herself to relax under his touch nonetheless, even though the butterflies that were flapping madly against the inside of her stomach were making that increasingly difficult.

"Like, do you want to talk about them?" Shaggy had begun absentmindedly moving his fingers gently along her shoulder. He may not have noticed it right away, but Velma sure did, and her face flushed.

"Um…well," Velma replied, flustered. "I can't remember them as soon as I wake up so…I guess there's really nothing to talk about." Shaggy realized what his fingers were doing and abruptly stopped, though his hand didn't leave her shoulder.

"Well like…um, when Scoob has a bad dream…" Shaggy didn't want to finish that sentence – it was way too embarrassing. But to his surprise, Velma finished it for him.

"You sing to him?" Shaggy looked at her in surprise, and Velma couldn't help but giggle at the astonished expression on his face. "Shaggy, if you can hear me yell through the wall, then I can hear you sing to Scooby." She gave him a small grin and Shaggy felt a lump form in this throat. He shifted his position so that his arm now wound _around _her shoulders and held her close to him. His face grew hot as he felt her cheek make contact with his bare shoulder. He didn't realize it, but Velma was blushing just as much as he was. In an attempt to not look at his bare chest, she squeezed her eyes shut. Shaggy had no idea what to do with his other hand, so he just played with her sheets. His nose was pressed up against her hair so that he could smell her citrus-y shampoo. He could barely focus on anything.

"_What a beautiful face _

_I have found in this place _

_That is circling all 'round the sun…"_

Velma, for her part, kept her eyes shut tight in an effort to not be distracted by Shaggy's bare chest. She kept her hands folded in her lap, under the covers. This was for two reasons: 1.) She, too, had no idea what to do with them. 2.) It had been so long since she'd been in this kind of embrace with anyone, and she didn't want to ruin anything. She simply stayed as she was, listening to Shaggy's off-key but soothing voice.

"_What a beautiful dream_

_That could flash on the screen_

_In the blink of an eye and be gone from me…"_

It was a different song than the ones he usually sang to Scooby. He usually sang Beatles songs or something when Scooby woke up from a bad dream. Velma guessed that this song was from some indie band that Shaggy listened to. It didn't really matter to her what the song was, though. Just as long as he was singing it.

"_Soft and sweet_

_Let me hold it close and keep it here…"_

Why had he stopped singing? Curiously, Velma opened her eyes and looked up, only to see that Shaggy's eyes were boring directly into hers. Her heart jumped a bit in her chest cavity as she craned her neck upward, bringing her face so close to his they their noses were touching.

Suddenly, they both pulled back, each of them incredibly red in the face, although neither knew because each was looking at the ground.

"Like…um…" Shaggy stammered, unsure of what to say.

"Um…thank you…I think I'll be okay now…thanks," Velma murmured.

"Like, no problem," Shaggy muttered as he hastily got up from the bed and exited. "Good night," he said before closing the door. Once it was shut and Velma was left alone in the dark, she leaned back into her pillow and groaned quietly. _What was that? _She had nearly forgotten about her feelings for Shaggy while she'd been with Patrick – not quite, but almost – but now that Patrick was no more…Velma shook herself. She couldn't let herself get carried away. It'd been years. Her pathetic feelings for Shaggy would have to go. She had to make herself stop feeling this way. _Besides_, she thought bitterly. _He's got Mary Jane. Why in the world would he rather have me over her?_

Unbeknownst to Velma, in the room next door, Shaggy was also having an inward battle. He tried to not wake Scooby Doo as he clambered into his bed and groused silently. "Like, what was I thinking?" he whispered to himself. He'd learned from his experiences with Mary Jane that he was not very good at resisting temptation. He had no idea _why_ he'd thought it would be a good idea to go into Velma's room. He had no idea how close they would get to each other. He'd been so close…

_Like…I could have __**kissed**__ her,_ he realized. _Like…I think…I __**wanted**__ to kiss her…_

x.X.x

Velma didn't have anymore nightmares, but she and the rest of the gang did majorly oversleep. They were way behind schedule and rushed around. When Fred finally got the rest of the gang into the Mystery Machine, Velma took out her phone and dialed Patrick. Within minutes, he was there.

"Hey, Velma," he said when he arrived. "It's uh…it's great to see you…"

"Yeah Patrick, it's nice to see you, too…" _Jinkies, this was so much more awkward than I'd originally perceived it to be._

"So…what's the favor?"

"Well…" After much hemming and hawing, Velma told Patrick the story of how she'd stumbled upon this mystery. After describing the tape, she expected Patrick to back down. The answer she got, however, was a huge surprise.

"Will you show me the tape?" Velma felt herself go pale.

"Um…Patrick, I really don't know if I'm comfortable with that…" she muttered.

"What do you mean? How else would I be able to study the tape if I haven't seen it?" he asked. "Besides, I don't believe in that kind of stuff. Now where's the tape?" Velma realized that there was no way she could argue with Patrick, so she simply got the tape out of her nightstand drawers and handed it to him. He watched it on the big screen in the main room while she set up the video lab. A few minutes later, she heard Patrick's cell phone go off.

"Hello?" he answered. Velma sighed. She knew what was coming. A few moments later, Patrick entered the lab.

"Well?" she asked.

"It was very…student-film-esque," Patrick told her. Velma chuckled. This was true.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. He stared at her blankly.

"Oh, you mean about the phone call?" he replied. Velma nodded, and he chuckled. "Velma, I told you. I don't believe in that stuff."

_Doesn't mean it's not real. _"Well," she said aloud. "Should we get started?"

The two of them worked diligently for a long time – although most of the working was done trying to figure out how in the world the stupid video lab worked.

"Velma, do you think it would be possible for you to make me a copy of the tape, so that I could study it at my house?" Patrick asked her after some time. The video lab wasn't yet responding, and who knew how long it would take? He had other things he needed to do.

"Yeah, sure," she replied. She pressed the copy button and put the copied tape on the counter. "Hey, can you do me a favor really quick?"

"What?" Velma took a Polaroid camera out of one of the drawers in the counter where the video lab was set up.

"I have a hunch about something, and I want to test it." She handed him the camera. "Take a picture of me."

"…Beg pardon?"

"Just do it, please." Patrick sighed at her request and snapped a quick photo of her. When it came out of the camera, he waited for it to develop – and when it did, the expression on his face grew stricken.

Velma's hunch had been confirmed. "It's blurry, isn't it?"

"Yeah…"

Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. Velma and Patrick both looked out the door of the lab to see Mary Jane standing at the front door, her gigantic purse slung over her shoulder. Velma bristled at seeing her there, but let her in anyway.

"Hi, Velma. Is Shaggy around?"

"No. He's not. What can I do for you?" Mary Jane dug through her bag and came up with an envelope that said "Shaggy" on it.

"Could you please give this to him when he comes back?" she asked politely. Inwardly, Velma rolled her eyes.

"Certainly, Mary Jane," she replied, taking the letter from her and going back into the lab. To her horror, Mary Jane followed.

"Hi," said Patrick, looking up when Velma entered the room with Mary Jane. "I'm Patrick Wisely."

"I'm Mary Jane," Mary Jane introduced herself as she placed her purse on the floor next to the counter. "I thought I saw someone moving in here. I was sure it was Shaggy."

"Why would I lie to you? I told you he wasn't here," Velma said. Mary Jane looked at her. "Whatever. Never mind," Velma sighed. She placed the letter on the counter, but was so angry that she could barely see straight. How _dare_ Mary Jane just walk into headquarters, with the audacity to believe that Velma had lied to her? Velma was fuming so much that she didn't notice that she was about to walk into the bookshelf. When she did, her glasses flew off her face and landed on the ground.

"My glasses!" Velma cried, falling to the floor and feeling around. "I can't see without them!" Mary Jane and Patrick immediately dropped down to help her look for them. Velma bumped her head on the counter and – unbeknownst to anyone – the copy that she had made for Patrick toppled off the countertop and into Mary Jane's open bag.

Finally, Velma found her glasses and Mary Jane left. Velma and Patrick looked at each other, then at the video lab.

"Hey, it's working now!" Velma said. "Still want to help me?"

"Sure," said Patrick, and they set to work.

x.X.x

Shaggy sat in the backseat with Scooby, preoccupied with thoughts of what had almost conspired in Velma's room the previous night. Though Scooby didn't know what was running through his master's mind, he could tell that it was extremely thought-demanding, because Shaggy didn't say a single word on the entire ride to Lyonsville.

"Is he always this quiet?" Lorelei asked Daphne and Fred in the front seat. She'd imagined Shaggy as the type who would be chattering away…

Daphne and Fred shrugged to each other and shook their heads.

Nothing really eventful happened until they got to the Gates' house. Then things started to get really interesting really fast.

First of all, police cars were still all over the place, and Detective Edelbrock was back. Shaggy and Scooby, of course, made a beeline for the kitchen (whatever it was that had preoccupied Shaggy on the way didn't seem to be bothering him anymore) so Lorelei stuck around with Fred and Daphne for a while.

"Did you discover any new information?" Detective Edelbrock asked.

"Well, we learned that all of the girlfriends except for Rose stayed at Shelter Mountain on Thursday night," Fred answered. He made no mention of the "cursed" videotape – there was nothing to say about it, plus Lorelei was right there. "We also found this photograph at the cabin where they stayed." Fred reached into his pocket and pulled out the blurry picture.

"_I _found it," Lorelei said proudly, pushing herself towards Detective Edelbrock. She was not going to let Fred steal her thunder. But Detective Edelbrock didn't even seem to notice.

"Hmm…" he murmured. "What's the significance of the blurry faces?"

"We were hoping that you could help us figure that out," Daphne told him. Lorelei rolled her eyes. Everyone was ignoring her, so she went exploring again. She knew there had to be _something_ that the police had missed. She wandered the house, listening to snippets of conversation between the detectives.

"…no sign of a struggle. The house wasn't broken into, and the only fingerprints on the door are Rose's. So how did the killer get in?" one was saying.

"…my money's on the girlfriend," another said.

_They're all wrong_, Lorelei thought to herself. She avoided the TV room because of the event that had happened the other day, but she went back upstairs to Jonathan's room. It looked exactly as it had the other night – complete with the unmade bed. Lorelei, who was an excruciatingly neat and tidy child, decided to take it upon herself to clean up his room. She began by picking things up off the floor. Baseball gloves, discarded socks, pieces of paper…

She stopped and stared at the piece of paper she had just picked up. It was a picture identical to the one she'd found in the room at the cabin. It was a picture of all five boys standing in front of cabin 12 with blurry faces. She had no idea what to make of it.

"_It won't be long…"_

There was the voice again. Lorelei looked all around but there was no one else in the room. She was beginning to get scared by Jonathan's house. She was about to leave the room when she suddenly felt an overwhelming sensation that someone was in trouble. Someone close to her. In her head, she saw an image of a woman coughing, choking. A woman with glasses.

"Aunt Velma!" With that shout, Lorelei tore out of the room and thundered down the stairs.

"…so the coroner really has no idea how-" Detective Edelbrock was saying, but was cut off when Lorelei came flying down the stairs and rammed into him, nearly knocking him off his feet. Everyone jumped back in surprise.

"Lorelei! What's gotten into you?" Fred scolded. She ignored him and reached for his cell phone. "Hey!" But she still didn't pay any attention. She found her aunt in his contacts list and rang her up. There were about seven rings before someone finally picked up.

"Hello?" It was a man's voice. Lorelei furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Who's this?" she demanded.

"I'm Patrick Wisely. Who's this?" Lorelei thought this man sounded a little nervous, but she didn't say anything about it.

"I'm Lorelei Benson. Why are you answering my aunt's phone?" She was suddenly struck by an awful thought – what if she'd accidentally pressed the wrong contact?

But Patrick said, "Velma is your aunt?"

"Yes!" Lorelei shouted impatiently. Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby and Detective Edelbrock were staring at her in confusion. "Where is she?"

"She's right here, but…something's wrong." Lorelei was right on two counts – Patrick _did_ sound nervous, and her aunt _was_ in trouble.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't know she…just started choking. I tried the Heimlich, but all that happened was she coughed out a string."

"She coughed out a _string?_" Lorelei noticed in her peripheral vision that the members of the gang all grew wide-eyed.

"I don't know what's happening," Patrick said.

"Stay right there." Lorelei hung up the phone and looked at Fred and the others. "We have to go back to Coolsville. Something's the matter with Aunt Velma."

x.X.x

They leapt into the Mystery Machine and sped back to headquarters. By the time they got there, though, there was really nothing to worry about anymore. Velma sat in a chair in the lab, gasping for breath, a glass of water and a plug on the counter, while Patrick stood to the side, holding a tissue to his nose.

"Velma, are you okay?" Daphne asked, rushing towards her friend.

"I'm fine now. Really," she insisted upon seeing the looks on everyone's faces.

"Like, what's Patrick doing here?" Shaggy asked, pointing to the bearded bespectacled man.

"Velma, what happened?" Fred asked, though it was Patrick who answered.

"She was thirsty, so she got some water. She took a sip and suddenly she started choking and she coughed out a string. She was gagging and she had to pull on it and that," he pointed to the plug on the counter beside the glass of water, "came out."

"Ewwww!" Daphne squealed. "Ugh! Velma, that sounds awful! Where did the plug come from?"

"I honestly have no idea," Velma confessed.

Patrick took the tissue away from his face. "Hey, I think my nose has stopped bleeding."

"Your nose was bleeding?" Lorelei asked suspiciously. Scooby voiced her thoughts.

"Relma's rose red resterday," he said.

"Scooby's right. Aunt Velma's nose bled yesterday on the way back from Shelter Mountain…" Lorelei may have only been seven, but she was smart enough to know that noses didn't just start bleeding all on their own – _and_ that people didn't cough up plugs. "What's going on?"

"Lorelei, go upstairs." Velma could tell that her secret was going to come out soon and she did not want Lorelei to be around when she mentioned the video tape. Lorelei looked at her aunt and scowled.

"Aunt Velma…"

"Lorelei please, just go upstairs!" Velma raised her voice a little and Lorelei's eyes widened – as did everyone else's. Velma wasn't the raise-her-voice kind of person. Lorelei shot a wounded expression at her aunt, and ran upstairs. Scooby could tell she needed some comfort, so he shot after her.

"Like I'm still not getting why Patrick is here," Shaggy said again – a bit irritably, perhaps? "What's he doing?"

"Velma, I think it's time you told the others what's going on," Fred said. Velma nodded and sighed. She didn't say anything at first. But she didn't have to. Shaggy understood almost immediately.

"Like, you watched that cursed videotape, didn't you?" Velma didn't meet his eyes as she nodded mournfully.

"The one that supposedly kills you a week after you watch it?" Daphne asked, flabbergasted. Again, Velma nodded. "When?"

"Yesterday, while I was at Shelter Mountain," Velma whispered. "Scooby and Lorelei were outside. Patrick was here to help me study the tape. I thought that maybe if I could figure out where it was filmed, I could go to those places and get some answers. But it took us forever to get the video lab to work"

"Like Velma, why?" Shaggy still didn't understand the reason _behind_ Velma watching the tape. What had possessed her to do such a thing? Especially after he had deliberately warned her _not _to watch it? But Velma still didn't answer him.

"Well, I should probably go," said Patrick, who obviously felt awkward. "I've overstayed my welcome for tonight…I'll come back tomorrow if you want. I'll study it some more tonight, though. If I discover anything, I'll let you know." He looked around, and then frowned. "Velma, where's my copy?"

"You made, like, a SECOND one?" Shaggy cried, shocked. Velma still felt bad about watching the tape despite Shaggy's warning, and he wasn't making it any easier by commenting on every single thing she said. In an effort to get him (and her guilt) out of the way, she handed him an envelope.

"Here. This is for you," she told him. He furrowed his brow and looked at it. It had his name on it, written in a very familiar hand and accompanied by an equally familiar scent.

"Like what…?"

"Mary Jane stopped by to give it to you," Velma said curtly. She didn't see Daphne and Fred glance at each other suspiciously, nor Patrick shuffle awkwardly. She only saw Shaggy turn bright pink. Velma scowled inwardly.

"Like um…okay," he said. "I guess I'll like, go read this…" He shuffled out of the room reluctantly. Velma, who had only moments ago been fuming about the effect that Mary Jane had on Shaggy, suddenly had a bad feeling – like the letter contained bad news of some sort. She sighed to herself. "I'll make you another copy, Patrick."

x.X.x

Later, after Patrick had gone and everyone was getting ready for bed upstairs, Shaggy, clad in his brown pajama pants, leaned back in his bed and sighed.

He didn't feel _sad_, necessarily. Okay actually, that was a lie. He was a little sad. After all, his girlfriend of around three years had just broken up with him through a letter. But he wasn't really all _that_ sad about it. He wasn't exactly sure why, but when he finished the letter, he felt a strange sense of relief. And it didn't hit him as to why until he caught another whiff of the letter. It smelled like violets. He thought back to the flowery perfume that Mary Jane wore, and it certainly smelled nice, but he found he didn't enjoy it nearly as much as he enjoyed the scent of Velma's citrus shampoo.

Maybe this was because Shaggy was more drawn to food than flowers.

Or maybe it was because Shaggy liked Velma more than he liked Mary Jane…

Shaggy sighed again. He didn't know WHAT he felt for Velma. It was certainly different than whatever it was that he felt for Mary Jane. And the feelings for Velma were certainly stronger than the feelings for Mary Jane. But he had no idea how to describe the feelings. Maybe _that _was the real reason he was feeling so down.

His door creaked open and Scooby came in and jumped onto the foot of the bed.

"Like, hey buddy. How's Lorelei doing?"

"Retter. Re's rasleep row," Scooby told his master as he curled up into a ball.

"Like, good. She needs some rest," Shaggy said. Scooby pointed at the letter that Shaggy had deposited on the night stand.

"Rut's rat?" Shaggy sighed.

"Like, Mary Jane broke up with me." Scooby picked up his head and looked at his master.

"Roo rokay?"

"Like yeah, I'll be fine."

"Roo ron't reem rine." Scooby was right. Shaggy _didn't_ seem fine. He knew he _wasn't_ fine, but he also knew that it wasn't because of Mary Jane. In a flash of brilliance, the real reason for Shaggy being upset came to him.

"Like, I'm upset about something else, Scoob," he confessed. "Like, you know that killer videotape I told you about last night? The one that Jonathan and his friends watched at Shelter Mountain?"

"Reah?"

"Well…Velma watched it." Shaggy watched as Scooby's eyes grew huge.

"Relma?"

"Like, yeah. Yesterday, apparently." Shaggy sighed. "I think _that's_ like, the real reason I'm so upset. Cuz I'm worried. She's like, my best friend other than you." Shaggy wasn't ready to tell Scooby how he felt about Velma – whatever it was that he felt. He still wasn't sure.

But it was good enough for Scooby.

"Ris Relma roing to rie?" he asked. Shaggy sighed.

"Like, I don't know buddy. I know that Fred thinks that tape is like, completely bogus. I just hope he's not wrong…"

"Re roo, Raggy." Scooby gave his master's hand a reassuring lick, then crawled back to the foot of the bed and almost immediately fell asleep. Shaggy sighed and was about to turn off the light, when there was suddenly a knock at his open door. He looked up and saw Daphne.

"Hey Shag. Mind if I come in for a minute?"

"Like, of course not," Shaggy said. Daphne, clad in a purple nightgown, sat at the foot of the bed, careful not to wake Scooby. She nodded to the letter on Shaggy's nightstand.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Like, if you mean, 'is it a break-up letter,' then yeah, it is," Shaggy said. Daphne grimaced.

"I'm sorry, Shag," she told him.

"Like, it's really okay. I'm taking it better than I would have thought." Daphne arched an eyebrow. She had a hunch as to why Shaggy was taking a break-up from a long-term relationship so well, and she put that hunch to the test.

"So Velma doesn't want any of us to tell Lorelei that the tape is in the house," Daphne told him. "She doesn't want Lorelei to watch it, for obvious reasons."

"Like, is Fred starting to believe this yet, Daphne?" Shaggy asked. "Is he starting to like, believe the tape is for real?" Daphne sighed.

"I don't know, Shag. But just in case it is real, Velma's going to have Patrick come over tomorrow and we're all going to try to solve this mystery. We'll have Lorelei take Scooby to the park so that she'll be out of the way. You, me and Freddie will do some research on Rachel Keller – Dottie roomed with her in college, and she knows about this tape, so we're going to try to find her – while Patrick and Velma do some more research on the tape. We decided this downstairs just now."

"Like, why did Velma get _him_ to help anyway?" Shaggy asked. "I don't get it. Didn't they break up like, three months ago?" Shaggy realized how hostile he sounded and immediately clammed up. But Daphne's hunch had been confirmed and she eyed Shaggy knowingly. "Like, what?" Shaggy said hotly.

"Shaggy, I think I figured out why you're so okay with Mary Jane breaking up with you…" Daphne said with a small smile. Shaggy stared at her, then turned his attention to the floor and turned red. "Shaggy, I'm a detective. I can figure these things out. Now tell me…do you like Velma?"

"Like…I don't know," Shaggy said. "I mean, she's definitely like, my friend and stuff, but…I like her differently than I like you, obviously. AND I like her differently than I liked Mary Jane. I don't know. I have like…funny feelings for Velma. I don't know how to like, exactly describe them." Daphne raised her eyebrows.

"Try," she challenged him. Shaggy sighed again.

"Like…I don't know. It's really weird talking to you about this," he told her. Daphne had to admit that he was right. First off, she knew that is was strange to talk for her to men about other men, so why should it be different for men to feel strange talking about women to another woman? Second off, who'd have thought that Shaggy would spill his guts to _her _of all people?

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious what you have to do," Daphne told him. Shaggy looked at her.

"Like, please. Enlighten me."

"Tell her about it. Tell her everything you feel." Shaggy stared at her.

"Should I like, give her every reason to accept that I'm for real?" Daphne rolled her eyes at Shaggy's Billy Joel reference and ignored it. "Plus," Shaggy continued. "How am I supposed to tell her how I feel when _I _don't even know how I feel?" Daphne sighed.

"Well, you better figure it out quickly," she told him. "Because at this point, Velma's only got six days left to live."

* * *

**Sponge: Yes indeed, sports fans! We have our first hints of Shelma in this chapter! (Unless you count the last chapter when Shaggy went all protective on her and was all, "Don't watch the tape, Velma!") If you haven't listened to "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" (the album OR the song) by Neutral Milk Hotel, I definitely recommend it if you're into indie bands. And you should also check out Billy Joel if you haven't because he's a classic. You know what else you should do? Review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Day 2

**Sponge: Whoo-ee! Chapter four is here! I know how excited you all are, so I'll just cut right to the chase. But first I'll put in the disclaimers. I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Day 2**

"_Ewwwww!" _squealed Lorelei, obviously disgusted. Velma reached up, afraid her nose was bleeding again. But Lorelei was pointing to the kitchen counter.

"Like, what?" Shaggy asked from where he stood at the stove.

"What did you do to those eggs?" Lorelei cried. Velma looked to where her niece was pointing. A few minutes ago, the eggs on the plate had been normal sunny-side up eggs. But in the few minutes that she had turned her attention away from Shaggy's breakfast-making, he had added – among other things – mustard, whipped cream, chives, confectioner's sugar and Tabasco sauce.

Lorelei looked as though she was going to throw up any moment. Velma was suddenly reminded of the vomiting person on the tape.

"Like, what do you mean? That's mine and Scoob's breakfast. I'm like, cooking normal eggs for the rest of you," Shaggy told her. Lorelei looked horrified.

"You mean _you're_ going to eat that?" She was absolutely repulsed.

"Like yeah. Me and Scooby are going to eat it."

"_Scooby and I_."

It was no use arguing with her. Shaggy sighed and turned to the plate of his "special eggs"…only to find that they were gone.

"What the -" Shaggy eyed Scooby, who was laying down right next to the counter and licking his chops. "Like, hey!"

"Ree hee hee hee!" Scooby giggled, strutting over to Lorelei. She grimaced at him.

"Okay, a dog eating all that stuff in the same dish, I can understand. But a human?" She turned to her aunt and smiled. "Aunt Velma, Shaggy _is _a human, right?"

"Like hey! I resent that!" Shaggy pretended to be offended. Lorelei giggled.

"Calm down I was just teasing. But in all seriousness, was your first toy as a child a garbage disposal or something?"

"…Like no comment," Shaggy replied as he began a new plate of eggs for himself. Lorelei grimaced.

"I'm sorry I asked."

By the time Fred and Daphne came down, Shaggy had finished cooking the eggs (including his own) and everyone sat down for a rather silent breakfast. They had a lot of work to do that day – not that Lorelei was privy to any of it. Shaggy had filled Scooby in on his duty to take Lorelei to the park so that she would be out of the way (only of course, it would seem as if _Lorelei_ would be taking _Scooby_ to the park), but Lorelei herself didn't know any of this.

Shaggy was not looking forward to seeing Patrick, who was due to arrive any minute.

However, a very unexpected guest arrived before Patrick, right as the gang was finishing breakfast.

"You think this is funny?" Mary Jane hissed when Velma opened the door to answer the knock. Patrick was right behind her, looking just as confused to what Mary Jane was doing there and what she was so angry about.

"Hello, Mary Jane," Velma said curtly. "What brings you back here?" Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby and Lorelei had been about to leave the kitchen to go see who was at the door, but upon hearing Mary Jane's voice, Shaggy abruptly did an about face and remained in the kitchen.

"What brings me back is your _prank_ that you seem to think was so _amusing_," Mary Jane spat. Shaggy grimaced behind the kitchen door. He hadn't heard Mary Jane get angry often – she wasn't that type of girl – but when she did, it wasn't pretty.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Velma asked. Still scowling, Mary Jane dug through her gigantic purse and came up with something that made Velma's face go pale.

"Oh no," Patrick moaned. "Velma, I think I know where the copy of that tape went."

"Jinkies…" Velma murmured. She swallowed. "You um…didn't watch it, did you?"

"_Of course_ I watched your disgusting movie! And I got your phone call afterwards so ha-ha-ha. Now that we've all had a big laugh, would you mind telling me _why_ you slipped this video into my bag? Is Shaggy behind this?" Mary Jane exclaimed.

"Yeah, right. Shaggy would never do any of this in a million years!" Velma defended him.

Upon hearing his name, Shaggy decided to stop being such a chicken and brave the Wrath of Mary Jane.

There was an awkward silence when he entered the room.

"Like um…hi," Shaggy said uncomfortably. What else could he say? _"I got your letter, I'm okay with the break-up so no hard feelings?"_

There was another silence. Mary Jane alternated between glancing at Shaggy and glaring at Velma, Fred and Daphne were giving each other shifty eyes of confusion, Lorelei absentmindedly patted Scooby as she wondered what the big deal about the tape and the phone call was, and Patrick stood around like an awkward turtle out of its shell.

"The tape must have fallen off of the counter and into your bag when you were dropping off that letter yesterday," Patrick told her. "I'm terribly sorry. We meant you no harm."

"I don't understand," Lorelei spoke up. "What's the big deal about the tape? And what phone call?" Velma paled upon realizing that her niece was still there and she raised her eyebrows rapidly at Shaggy, who was quick to understand.

"Like um…it's not too hot outside today. I feel like Scoob would like to take a walk in the park. Wouldn't you, Scoob?" Shaggy stared hard at his pet and Scooby understood immediately.

"Reah! Reah!" he barked.

"Lorelei can take him, right Lorelei?" Velma said to her niece.

"Reah, reah!" Scooby barked again, handing Lorelei his leash and pushing her out the door with his nose.

"But Aunt Velma!" Lorelei cried. "I wanna know what's going on!" But Scooby was resilient and nosed her out the door. Once they were gone, Velma breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was so close."

"Can someone please explain to me what's happening?" Mary Jane looked and sounded less angry now and more curious. "What do you mean by 'harm'?" The gang glanced at each other.

"Well…it's a long story," Velma began.

x.X.x

"Scooby, does this happen often? That the gang ousts you and doesn't tell you what's going on?" Lorelei asked as she and Scooby made their way to Coolsville Park. She wasn't really _angry_ about being out of the loop, just more disappointed.

"Rye roe rut's roing ron," Scooby told her. "Rut Rye ran't rell rou."

"Why can't you tell me?" Lorelei asked.

"Raggy rade re romise."

"Shaggy made you promise," Lorelei repeated with a sigh. She couldn't stay upset for long though. Shaggy had been right – it _was_ a nice day out, and it was hard to be in such a foul mood when the sun was shining brightly and a soft summer breeze floated through the mid-morning air.

Upon reaching the park, Lorelei saw that several people had decided to take their dogs out for walks – but Lorelei was easily the smallest person and Scooby was easily the biggest dog. They were quite a pair, the two of them.

Lorelei had never owned a dog before. She'd begged her mother for years to let her get one, but Dottie had relentlessly refused. "Too messy," she'd say. "Besides, our house is too small for a dog." Lorelei wasn't the most popular girl at Lyonsville Elementary School. She barely had any friends at all. She figured a dog would be the most loyal friend she could get – someone she could tell things to who wouldn't get judgmental or make fun of her.

"Scooby, can I talk to you?"

"Rabout rut?"

"Um…I don't know. Anything." Scooby was extremely confused. What kind of things did a _dog_ talk to a seven-year-old girl about? He racked his brain, trying to think of something to say to her.

"Ruhh…rour ramily?" he suggested. He really had no idea how well this would go over, but Lorelei seemed to latch onto the idea.

"Well…there's really not much to say. I live with my mom. I barely have any other relatives. We hardly ever see Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Velma, and I've only met Aunt Madelyn once. I don't know…I guess Mom never really liked to associate herself with the Dinkleys. I don't get it though, because the few times I've met Mom's relatives they've seemed pretty cool. I love Aunt Velma, even though she doesn't tell me anything."

"Rut rabout rour rad?" Scooby asked. Lorelei sighed and looked off into the distance.

"I don't know," Lorelei told him quietly. "I haven't seen my dad since I was three."

x.X.x

Back at HQ, everyone had settled down in the main room. Daphne, Patrick and Fred sat on the couch while Shaggy and Mary Jane had sprawled out (in separate places) on the floor. Velma stood in front of them as she explained to Mary Jane the curse of the videotape.

"So…unless we figure out how to break the curse…I'm going to die in a week?" Mary Jane asked. Velma nodded sagely and Mary Jane furrowed her brow. "How long do you have?"

"Five days," Velma told her. "Which means that if we want to solve this mystery, we have to work fast."

"I'll help out in any way I can," Mary Jane offered.

"That's actually probably not a bad idea," Patrick spoke up. Velma stared at him, flabbergasted. "What? Velma, the more people we have looking at the tape, the more of a chance we'll have of discovering something significant."

Velma knew that Patrick was right, but she wasn't sure how great Mary Jane's detective skills were.

"Okay then, it's settled," Fred said, jumping to his feet. "Daphne, Shaggy and I will search the Net for Rachel Keller while you three re-watch that tape and try to figure out the locations."

That was the other thing. Velma would be _alone_ in the lab with her ex-boyfriend _and_ Shaggy's ex-girlfriend. It was going to be excruciatingly awkward.

But Velma was determined to solve this mystery, so she took a deep breath and bravely ventured into the lab with Mary Jane and Patrick.

x.X.x

An hour later, Fred, Daphne and Shaggy were diligently researching Rachel Keller on their respective laptops in the main room. In the lab, Velma, Patrick and Mary Jane had each popped in their respective videos in the three different video labs that were set up and re-watched the frightening tape in near silence.

"You know what part I think was the most disturbing?" Mary Jane said from her station some time later.

"When the person was throwing up?" Patrick guessed.

"When the nail went through that finger?" Velma suggested.

"When this woman-" Mary Jane paused the tape when the woman with the black hair in the mirror came on screen "-looks at you through the screen. It creeped me out so much." Mary Jane shuddered and continued with the tape.

"Where do you guys suppose this house is?" Patrick said, pausing his tape when the house with the face in the window appeared.

"I don't know. Have you noticed that there are a lot of seaside shots though?" Velma said. "I'm wondering where this ocean is. I can tell it's on the West Coast though, because you don't see waves that big in the Atlantic."

"So hopefully it's nearby," Patrick said.

"Hopefully," Velma echoed him, pausing the tape at the section of the seashore and the fly. She stared at it, hoping to find some kind of landmark that she hadn't seen the previous eight dozen times she'd watched it in the last hour. She noticed the fly scurrying around the screen and Velma was suddenly overtaken by an inexplicable urge to…try something.

She reached up and with her pointer finger and thumb, plucked up the fly from the TV.

"Jinkies," she gasped.

"What?" asked Mary Jane from her corner.

"I just grabbed this fly out of the screen," Velma said breathlessly, freaked out by the surrealism of this whole event. "Not _off _of the screen. _Out _of the screen." Patrick and Mary Jane hurried over to Velma's station curiously.

"It feels solid enough now," Patrick said as he hesitantly ran his fingers over the monitor.

"What's that?" Mary Jane pointed to the left of the screen. It looked as though another image was trying to squeeze itself onto the monitor.

"That's the over-scan area," Velma explained. "The camera captured that scene too, but it isn't visible in this setting." She turned a dial on the VCR. "I can bring it up though…"

A lighthouse slid into view.

"Where do you suppose that lighthouse is?" Patrick asked.

"I don't know, but I bet we can find out," Velma said.

x.X.x

"Like, it's useless," Shaggy sighed. "I can't find _anything _about this woman at all."

"I learned that Rachel Keller used to live in Seattle," Daphne said. "But then she left the town after 'mysterious occurrences' and now there's no record of her."

"That's what I've got too," Fred sighed. "It's like she dropped off the face of the planet after she left Seattle."

"I wonder why she left?" Daphne pondered aloud.

"Like, isn't it obvious?" Shaggy spoke up. "She left town because she like, watched the cursed video tape."

Suddenly, the door to the lab burst open and Velma, Patrick and Mary Jane breezed in, holding up a large photograph.

"What's this?" Daphne asked, peering at the photo, which was of a lighthouse.

"We found this in the over-scan of the tape," Velma explained. "It's the only real clue we have to a location. We zoomed in and cleaned up the image, printed it out and we found a name!" Velma pointed to the side of the lighthouse, which said in tiny, barely eligible letters, "Moesko Island."

"Where's Moesko Island?" Fred wondered.

"I'll bring it up on our search engine," Daphne said, typing the name into her computer. After scrolling through some things, Velma suddenly gasped.

"Jinkies! Look!" she exclaimed, pointing at an image. "That's the lighthouse!" Daphne clicked on the image.

"Who are all these people in front of it?" she wondered. There were several adults posed in front of the lighthouse for a picture – they were all smiling.

"I don't know," said Fred. "But their names are listed at the bottom from left to right."

"Why does that woman look familiar?" Patrick wondered, pointing to a woman near the center. Velma gasped.

"Jinkies!" she said again. "That's the woman from the tape!"

"The one who sees you through screen?" Mary Jane asked, disturbed.

"What's her name, Daphne?" asked Velma. Daphne looked down at the list of names below the picture.

"Anna Morgan," Daphne replied. Then a few seconds later, "Hey!"

"What? What is it?" every one ad-libbed.

"It says that Moesko Island isn't too far from the coast!" Daphne said happily. "That means it's about half an hour and a ferry ride away from us!"

"We should investigate that lighthouse," Velma said. "Only let's not do it right now. Let's do it tonight."

"It's not necessary for all of us to go," Daphne pointed out. "Velma, I think you should stay here. Your nose is bleeding again and you're not looking so well." Velma's hands immediately flew to her nose and Shaggy went looking for tissues.

"Daph and I will go as soon as it gets dark," Fred offered. "You all stay here and finish trying to find Rachel Keller."

x.X.x

Patrick and Mary Jane actually went home not long after that exchange. A sudden thunderstorm had stopped Lorelei and Scooby in their tracks (literally) and caused them to race home. They were sopping wet by the time they reached headquarters and no more sleuthing could be done with Lorelei back in the picture. So they waited out the storm, but by the time it was over, it was already dark, so Fred and Daphne left for Moesko Island.

"Where are they going?" Lorelei asked her aunt as Fred and Daphne left.

"Like, who knows?" Shaggy came to Velma's rescue. "Whenever we've got a mystery to solve and we split up, we have like, no idea where Fred and Daphne go." Lorelei giggled and Shaggy winked at Velma, who blushed.

Fred and Daphne, for their part, were actually not doing anything romantic, unbeknownst to Lorelei. They were, however, discussing the possibilities of a romance between two other people.

"Freddie, can I ask you something?" Daphne asked on the way to the ferry.

"Sure Daph. What's up?"

"Had you ever considered the idea of…Shaggy and Velma?" Fred turned his eyes from the road for a brief second to give Daphne a confused look.

"What are you talking about, Daph?" he asked her.

"Well, last night I went to check on Shaggy because I had a feeling that the letter from Mary Jane was bad news," she told him.

"Was it?"

"She broke up with him, but he didn't seem to be taking it as hard as I would have expected."

"…I'm still not getting it," Fred told her.

"He wasn't shattered, Fred, because he's in love with Velma!" Daphne exclaimed. Fred glanced at her again.

"And he told you this himself?"

"Well…no. But he told me that he has funny feelings for her."

"And funny feelings automatically equal love?"

"Think about it, Fred," Daphne said. "Shaggy and Mary Jane had chemistry, but we all knew that it wouldn't last. The only reason they dated in the first place was because they were pretty much the same exact person. Same goes for Velma and Patrick. But Shaggy and Velma have known each other for years, and they've been there for each other throughout all the heartbreak and trauma they've gone through. And though they've both been in semi-serious relationships with other people, they've never been in love, so neither of them would know how to describe their feelings."

"Okay…I see your point. But what about Velma? Does she feel the same way?" Fred asked.

"Well…I don't actually know," Daphne confessed. "But I hope she does because wouldn't they make the most adorable couple?"

"If by 'adorable' you mean 'random'. I mean, Shaggy and Velma? I would never have thought of it in a million years." Fred sighed. "I think you ought to stay out of the matchmaking, Daph. The only thing we're good at meddling in is mysteries. When we start meddling in affairs of the heart, I feel like things could get messy really quickly. Especially where Shaggy and Velma are concerned, given that they both recently just ended semi-serious relationships."

Daphne sighed. She knew that Fred was right. But it had been a fun thought.

It was extremely dark by the time the ferry docked on Moesko Island. Luckily, the lighthouse was throwing beams of light from the shore and Daphne and Fred made their way there.

"Hey," said Daphne as they approached. "What do you suppose that house is next to the lighthouse?"

"Probably the caretaker's house," Fred whispered. "Let's knock on the door and see if anyone's home." Cautiously, they got out of the Mystery Machine and approached the house. It was small, with a rickety wooden porch and a few old windows.

"_Whoooooooo." _Daphne jumped back in surprise.

"Did you hear that?" she whispered.

"Yeah. It was probably just an owl or something," Fred replied, though he sounded nervous. They stepped onto the rickety wooden porch and Fred was just about to knock on the door when the knocker suddenly turned into a face of an old man.

"_Get ouuuuuuuuuuut!" _the face threatened.

"Gaaaaaaaah!" Daphne shrieked as she fell backwards off the porch and landed on the ground. Fred, too, backed up in fear. Above them, white apparitions swirled around. Daphne and Fred remained sprawled on the ground, gripping each other in fear.

Suddenly one of the streaks of white made a nosedive for Daphne. She rolled out of the way with a yell.

"Run!" Fred shouted, jumping to his feet and helping Daphne do the same. The two of them made a beeline for the Mystery Machine.

"Oh I hope the ferry hasn't left yet!" Daphne muttered. They were in luck. The ferry had not yet pulled away and they drove straight onto it.

"I was wondering when you guys would be back," the ferry driver said as he started the ferry. "I thought everyone knew the Morgan house was haunted."

Daphne and Fred got out of the Mystery Machine and glanced at each other.

"Morgan house?" Daphne asked.

"Haunted?" Fred said.

"Yes," the ferry driver replied. "All of the Morgans are dead, and the old place is haunted by all the ghosts."

"Would one of those Morgans be…Anna Morgan?" Daphne asked, breathlessly.

"Shoot, young lady," the ferry driver said. "She was the first one to go."

Daphne glanced at Fred again, and pulled him aside and began to whisper.

"What do you think, Freddie?" she asked him.

"I think we should come back in the morning," Fred replied. "When all these so-called 'ghosts' won't be in the way."

x.X.x

It was rather late by the time they made it back to HQ. All the lights inside were off, except for one in the lab.

"Everyone must be asleep already," Fred whispered. "Let's try to be quiet." They tiptoed up the stairs. Fred immediately went into his room, but Daphne decided to check on everyone and make sure they were all doing okay.

She peered into Velma's room to see that she was snoozing – if but a bit uneasily – in her bed. She seemed to be doing all right though, so Daphne continued the inspection.

Shaggy and Scooby were also asleep, although Scooby was snoring and Shaggy was twitching in his sleep, obviously dreaming. Daphne rolled her eyes, but moved on to Lorelei's room.

However, the girl wasn't in her bed. In fact, she wasn't in the room at all.

"…Freddie!" Daphne called, completely forgetting that she was in a house full of sleeping people. As if on cue, Fred came out of his room across the hall, as did everyone else all bleary-eyed. Velma was sleepily putting on her glasses.

"Like, what's all the yelling about?" Shaggy yawned as Scooby stumbled out behind him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake everyone up," Daphne apologized. "But Lorelei's missing."

"What?" Velma exclaimed, suddenly much more awake. She rushed into Lorelei's room and saw that Daphne was telling the truth. She immediately became worried. "Where could she have gone? It's the middle of the night!"

"Like, she's probably gotta be in the house somewhere," Shaggy said.

"Raybe re's rin the ritchen!" Scooby suggested.

"Like yeah! Getting a midnight snack!" Shaggy agreed. "Maybe we should check the kitchen, eh Scoob?"

"Reah! Reah!" Scooby agreed.

"Hold on," Fred said. "Daphne and I just got in and there were no lights on in the kitchen."

"Uh…Fred?" Daphne spoke up hesitantly. "There was a light on in the lab."

There was a silence.

"Oh no," Velma murmured, and she tore down the stairs with the others in hot pursuit. Once she made it down, she flung open the door to the lab. And to her horror, she discovered her niece, standing in front of the video lab, with the picture of a stone well on the screen.

And then static.

"NO!" Velma shrieked, yanking Lorelei around and burying the girl's face into her orange pajama shirt, sobbing. "No, no, no, no, no!" Over and over again, Velma wailed that word as tears escaped her eyes and slid down her cheeks under her glasses. Daphne raised a hand to her mouth as tears stung her eyes too. Fred just stood there, flabbergasted, and Shaggy and Scooby looked at each other with pain-filled eyes. And then, the worst happened.

The phone rang from the other room.

In a fit of rage, Velma sprang from the room as everyone followed. Wiping her tear-streaked cheeks with one hand, she used the other to pick the phone up from the receiver and slam it back down again. When it rang again a few seconds later, Velma snapped.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" she bellowed into the phone with such ferocity and anguish that everyone gave a small jump of surprise. Lorelei, for her part, was feeling a mixture of all kinds of emotions: disturbance at what she had witnessed on the tape, regret for watching the tape and making her favorite aunt cry, confusion as to why her aunt was so concerned about the tape anyway, and curious as to who was on the phone. Especially when Velma stopped crying for a brief moment and asked whom she was speaking to. When the caller told her, Velma handed the phone to Daphne.

"It's some guy," she sniffled. "He says his name is Adam Starkey?"

"That's the guy from the psych ward!" Daphne exclaimed, taking the phone out of Velma's hand and sitting down in a far corner to talk.

"Lorelei…" Velma mumbled after some time. "Why did you watch that tape?"

"I wanted to know what the big mystery was!" Lorelei defended herself. "I'm so sorry, Aunt Velma, I didn't mean to upset you. I just…wanted to know. I couldn't sleep so I came downstairs and I found the tape just sitting on the counter-"

"Wait a minute," Velma said. "My copy of the tape is in my nightstand."

"Well I saw Patrick leave with his," Fred spoke up.

"Like, it's gotta be Mary Jane's copy," Shaggy said. He knew that she was certainly bubble-headed enough to leave it there. Velma closed her eyes, mustering up patience, and took a deep breath.

"Can you tell me what the big deal is?" Lorelei asked. Scooby sat beside the girl and she patted his head absentmindedly. Velma looked at Shaggy and Fred, who both shrugged.

"The video tape is cursed," Velma explained, defeated. All her hard work to not involve Lorelei in the mystery had gone to waste. "It's the reason that Jonathan and his friends are dead. Because they watched it." Velma swallowed. "I watched it, too, when we went to Shelter Mountain. Afterwards, I got a call that said I was going to die in seven days."

"That's why the phone rang," Lorelei realized. "Someone knew I watched it." She looked at her aunt. "If you watched it that day at Shelter Mountain, then you've got…five days left to live."

"Yes," Velma said quietly. "Patrick and Mary Jane watched it too. They've got six days."

"I've got seven days," Lorelei said. She looked at the clock. "I've got until eleven pm next Monday." Lorelei didn't tell them about the extremely frightening thing that had happened. The instant the static had come on screen and her aunt hugged her, Lorelei had heard the voice that she's heard at the Gates' house again. Only this time it said, _"I've got you now." _The gang sat in uncomfortable silence until Daphne returned with a grin.

"What are you smiling about?" Fred asked. "Please tell me you've got good news."

"I have great news," Daphne told him. "Rose Anderson is speaking again."

* * *

**Sponge: I should tell you all…I've been sick all week, so that's why I've had nothing better to do than to sit here and write this story. It is scheduled to be thirteen chapters long by the way, so there's still plenty to come. PLEASE review! Seriously, I'm like, four chapters into this and I have no reviews yet. It's very disheartening. There are some people who have added me to their faves (shout outs to TheWriterOfDreams and RussM – YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!) and also, TheWriterOfDreams added my story to alerts! But other than that…I have no proof that anyone is actually reading this. For all I know, all 40 hits could be me! (Except I know it's not because I haven't looked at my story 40 times.) Please though, leave a review – even just to say, "I read this". I just want to know that people are out there. Anyway…see you next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5: Day 3

**Sponge: Wow. I love everyone who reviewed (shout outs to Shaggelmalove, TheWriterOfDreams and XxLadyStrengthxX!). Seriously, I was so happy to read the wonderful things you had to say about my story! It makes me very proud! If I could send you cookies through the computer, I would. Anyway, here comes chapter five! Get ready for some major sleuthing guys. I'm talking serious Hardy Boys type stuff. We will learn a lot more about the mystery shrouding the video in this chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Enjoy chapter 5!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Day 3**

Mary Jane interrupted their breakfast again the next morning.

"Um…sorry," she said when Fred answered the door. "I think I left my copy of the tape here…"

"Yeah, you did," Velma said shortly. "And my niece watched it." Mary Jane paled.

"Oh no. Velma, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to leave it here, honestly."

"Of course you didn't. Why in the world would you possibly be out to kill my niece?" Velma asked sarcastically (and under her breath so Mary Jane wouldn't hear).

"I can get it for you," Lorelei offered, running into the lab. She could tell that her aunt didn't like this woman, and she had a feeling it had something to do with Shaggy, but she didn't want to be around if sparks started flying.

The adults and Scooby waited in the main room until they heard Lorelei say, "Oh no…" A few moments later, the girl came out of the lab with two video tapes.

"…Lorelei, where did that second tape come from?" Velma asked.

"Um…well…I sort of accidentally pressed the 'copy' button instead of the 'eject' button…" Lorelei mumbled.

"Like, oh great," Shaggy sighed. "Now we've got what, like, four copies of this tape floating around?"

"Guys we'll deal with this later," Fred said. "Right now we have to get going." Mary Jane got the hint, took her tape and left. "Okay, so here's how we'll split up-"

"Freddie and I will go back to Moesko Island, only this time we'll take Scooby as a guard dog, so that no neighbors get suspicious," Daphne interrupted. "And then Shaggy, Velma and Lorelei will go to the psych ward to talk to Rose."

"Like, Scooby and me are separated _again?_" Shaggy exclaimed incredulously.

"Scooby and _I._"

"Like, be quiet Lorelei."

As they bickered playfully, Fred pulled Daphne aside.

"Daph, what are you doing?"

"We need someone to watch at the front door to make sure no neighbors get suspicious," she said.

"Something tells me that's not the only reason you're doing this…is it?" Daphne looked at the ground and Fred groaned. "Daph, I told you! No messing with romance!"

"Come on Fred, what harm could it do? Besides, knowing Shaggy he'll be too chicken to make the first move anyway, so in all likeliness, nothing will even happen."

Fred sighed. "Fine," he relented. "But after this, no more matchmaking for you."

x.X.x

Minutes later, Fred, Daphne and Scooby piled into the Mystery Machine while Shaggy, Velma and Lorelei piled into the Acura and they set off for their separate destinations.

"What did Daphne say the name of the guy behind the desk was?" Lorelei asked her aunt. She was in the backseat. Velma was driving and Shaggy sat shotgun.

"Adam Starkey," Velma told her. "She said he was very helpful and nice…but then again, _everyone_ is helpful and nice to Daphne."

"Like, what's that supposed to mean?" Shaggy asked. "That people _aren't_ helpful and nice to you?"

"Well, not men, usually," Velma admitted, keeping her gaze firmly planted on the road. "I'd never had much luck where guys were involved, until Patrick. Remember when we were picking up Lorelei and Dottie talked about the rule of 'no-boys-in-the-house-when-no-adults-are-present'? She was right. The reason I never knew about the rule was because it never applied to me. Dottie was always popular with the boys, and Madelyn was too, actually. But not me. The only boys I ever hung out with were you and Fred. It was like I got the brains, Dottie got the beauty and lucky Madelyn got a mixture of both."

"Like, I think you're beautiful, Velma," Shaggy said before he could stop himself. He felt himself go as red as the stoplight they halted at and Velma turned to face him. She was extremely unsure of what to say so she just blushed.

_Hmm…_ thought Lorelei from the backseat.

"..Thank you, Shaggy," Velma mumbled when the light changed green and she turned her attention back to the road. The thought kept running through her head as she drove. _Shaggy…thinks I'm pretty?_

No. Shaggy had said that he thought she was _beautiful_.

x.X.x

When they arrived at the institution, they were met at the front desk by the smiling, friendly face of a young man with brown hair and green eyes.

"How can I help you?" he asked pleasantly.

"My name is Velma Dinkley," Velma introduced herself. "This is my friend Shaggy Rogers and my niece Lorelei Benson. We're friends of Daphne Blake's."

"Oh yes, she told me you'd be coming. I'm Adam Starkey," Adam said, beaming brightly. "I'm supposing you're here to see Rose Anderson?"

"Yes sir," Velma told him. "Now, before we speak to her, would you mind giving us some insight into her condition?"

"Well, I don't really know much about it. I'm not a doctor," Adam said. "But I do know that this is not the first time we've seen this illness at the hospital. But the last time we had someone like this was when Anna Morgan was here."

Shaggy, Velma and Lorelei glanced at each other briefly.

"Anna…Morgan?" Velma asked.

"Yes. She was with us for quite some time, as was her daughter, but they were transferred to another mental institution…I'm not sure where. You'd have to check her file." Adam pointed down the hallway. "Rose Anderson is in room 103 on your left."

Halfway down the hall, Velma stopped Shaggy and Lorelei.

"Did you hear what he said about Anna Morgan?" she asked.

"Who is she?" Lorelei asked.

"Oh like, that's right. You weren't there for that," Shaggy said.

"Anna Morgan lived on Moesko Island, which is where Scooby, Daphne and Fred are right now," Velma explained. "She was the woman on the tape, the one who was brushing her hair in the mirror." Lorelei gasped.

"And she was a patient here once?"

"Apparently so. Okay, we're going to change our plans," Velma said. "I'll go talk to Rose like we originally decided, but you two are going to sneak into the record room and see if you can sneak a peek at Anna Morgan's file. Okay?"

"You mean we're going to do some real-live-Hardy-Boys-style sleuthing? Oh boy!" Lorelei cried, obviously excited. "Come on, Shaggy!" She yanked on the hand of the tall beatnik and pulled him down the hall.

Velma grinned to herself. She knew that Lorelei would come up with some sort of plan to get herself and Shaggy into the file room. She was also fairly certain that the two of them would come back with pay dirt. For her part, she just continued down the hallway towards Rose Anderson's room.

x.X.x

"Like, please tell me you've got a plan for how we're going to get inside," Shaggy said. The two of them had no problem finding the record room – it was obviously the room with the opaque-glass window, upon which the words RECORD ROOM were stamped. Now the difficult part was getting inside. The padlock on the door told them that they needed some sort of code to get in.

"Don't worry," Lorelei whispered. The two were standing behind a corner, where they had a perfect view of the room. "I've got an idea and it's brilliant!"

At that moment, a gray-haired man in a lab coat and holding a manila folder approached the door and typed in a code. Shaggy and Lorelei ducked behind the corner as the man entered the room. The door shut behind him, but a moment later, he returned. This time, he was empty-handed – he'd obviously put the file back. He left the room and as the door was closing, Lorelei removed one of her flip-flops and slid it towards the shutting door. Her shoe became wedged in between the door and the jamb, and she smiled triumphantly to herself.

"Come on, Shaggy!" she whispered as she darted across the hall. "Before someone sees!"

"Like, _that_ was your brilliant plan?" he whispered back as he followed her into the room. "Wait for someone to come and then throw your shoe at the door? What if someone had like, seen your shoe skidding across the floor? Or what if no one showed up?"

"Well neither of those things happened, so it's a moot point," Lorelei hissed, closing the door behind them and turning on the overhead light. "Okay. Where do we look first?"

"Like, the 'clues cabinet' of course!" Shaggy stated, opening a drawer of a random cabinet. "Nope. Like, nothing in here!" he chuckled. Lorelei rolled her eyes.

"Quit goofing around. Let's check the 'M' cabinet." They continued using quiet voices as they searched through the files.

"Hey Shaggy," said Lorelei as they searched. "Can I ask you something?"

"Like, I guess," he replied. "What do you want to know?"

"Do you like my aunt?"

Shaggy felt himself blush scarlet. "Ahh…like, like her how?"

"I think you know how." Lorelei smiled at him and Shaggy blushed deeper at the thought of being found out by a seven-year-old. "Come on, don't think I didn't notice what happened on the way up here. I may be young, but I'm not stupid."

Shaggy said nothing, just buried his face in a drawer and continued searching for the file. Lorelei realized that she wasn't going to get anywhere with this interrogation and sighed in defeat. They both continued searching in near silence, but after several long agonizing minutes…

"I can't find anything!" Lorelei was utterly confused. "I don't get it. Her last name was Morgan, right? Her file should be here with the rest of the 'Ms'. But it's not!"

"Like, it makes no sense," Shaggy agreed. "Why would her entire file be missing?"

Suddenly at that moment, the door to the record room swung open and the same gray-haired doctor entered. His eyebrows shot up when he saw Shaggy and Lorelei, but they immediately descended and furrowed his brow.

"What are you two doing in here?" he asked, obviously annoyed.

"Uh…I'm sorry, sir," Lorelei began. "I was just curious as to what kind of things are kept in this room and my uh…_uncle_ ran in after me trying to stop me. I'm sorry."

_Like, this kid is really good at lying,_ Shaggy thought. He wondered if he should be disturbed by that.

"It's all right," the doctor said. "But you know little girl, you can't go being nosy all the time. Someday, you'll regret it,"

"I understand, sir," Lorelei said, hanging her head in (fake) shame.

"Who are you here to visit, anyway?" the doctor said. "I can help you find their room."

"_His or her_ room," Lorelei corrected his grammar under her breath. Shaggy jabbed her in the shoulder with his elbow, and suddenly got an idea.

"Like, we're here to visit Anna Morgan," he told the doctor. Lorelei gazed up at him, confusedly and the doctor furrowed his brow.

"The Morgans haven't been with us for quite some time," the doctor told him. "They must have been transferred…several years ago."

"Wait…MorganS? Plural?" Lorelei asked. "You mean there was more than one?"

"Anna and her daughter Samara," the doctor explained. "They stayed with us for a long time, until we had to transfer them to the mental institution back on Moesko Island after an incident."

"…What kind of incident?" Lorelei wanted to know.

"Well, young lady, the reason the Morgans were here in the first place was that Anna had terrifying visions – horrifying, disturbing images – that only appeared in her mind whenever her daughter was nearby," the doctor explained. "One day, Anna had a rather bad one and literally went stark-raving mad. She got so out of control that we couldn't handle her – or Samara – anymore and we had to transfer them to the institution on Moesko Island."

"…What kind of visions?" Lorelei whispered.

"I don't know," the doctor said. "She could never describe them." With that, he sent them out of the file room and back into the hallway.

"Shaggy, I have to tell you something," Lorelei whispered as they walked towards Rose's room. "You know how that doctor told us that Anna was having visions?"

"Like, yeah?"

"Well…I've been having visions, too."

"…What?"

"Here's the thing," Lorelei said. "Remember the other day, when we went to the Gates' house and I called my aunt and we found out she was in trouble?"

"Yeah?"

"I knew she was in trouble because I had a vision of her coughing and choking. And that's not all," she continued. "I've been having visions of a house and a well and a barn and a tree – and lots and lots of circles – and I didn't know what any of it meant until I watched the tape. I've been having visions of the things on the tape _before I even watched it_. And…well…"

"Like, what else?" Shaggy asked.

"I've been…hearing things."

"Like, what kind of things?"

"A voice. I used to think it was coming from another person, but I realized that it's been coming from inside my own head. I first heard it at the Gates' house, the night we discovered that Jonathan had died. It told me…that it was coming for me. And then later, before I had the vision of Aunt Velma, the voice said that it wouldn't be long. And…after I watched the tape last night…it said that it had me now." Lorelei's eyes welled with tears. "I'm really scared, Shaggy. I don't know what to do…"

Unbeknownst to either of them, while this was going on, Velma was talking to Rose. Or at least, trying to talk to Rose. Rose, at the moment, was busy playing with one of those shape-in-the-hole games. The only thing was that the circle was missing. Velma stared at it and was reminded of the ring of light from the tape.

"Rose?" she asked softly. She didn't respond. "Rose, can you hear me?"

"You put the square in the square hole," Rose said. "And the triangle in the triangle hole."

"My name is Velma Dinkley. I'm a detective," Velma said, ignoring Rose's ramblings. "A few nights ago, you were with your boyfriend. Jonathan. Do you remember?"

"I remember everything," Rose mumbled, still preoccupied with the game.

"Rose, I need to know what happened that night. I need to know what you saw. Tell me. Please. What did you see?"

Rose said nothing, just traced the circle hole with her index finger.

"Rose," Velma said again, grabbing her hand. "How did Jonathan die? I need to know."

"And you will," Rose whispered. "She will show you."

Velma blinked. "Who? Who will show me?"

"Not now," Rose whispered, turning Velma's hand over. Velma was astonished to see a black mark on her palm. She looked up at Rose with fear-filled eyes, and Rose stared intensely back at her. "Four days."

x.X.x

As soon as the ferry docked on Moesko Island, Fred's cell phone rang, displaying Velma's name on the front screen.

"Hey Velms. Anything?"

"Plenty. Wait till you hear what Shaggy and Lorelei found out," Velma replied. Lorelei grabbed the phone out of her aunt's hand.

"Anna Morgan – the lady from the tape – stayed at the Coolsville Psych Ward several years ago with her daughter, Samara," Lorelei said. "But after some kind of incident, they transferred them to the psych ward on Moesko Island."

"There's a mental hospital on this island?" Fred asked, flabbergasted. He could see Daphne and Scooby looking at him curiously, so he pressed the speaker button.

"Yeah," Lorelei's voice rang throughout the van. "And you'll never guess what else."

"So tell us," Fred said, getting impatient.

"When we were done, we went back and talked to Mr. Starkey at the front desk, and asked him some questions about Anna and her daughter. He didn't have anything to tell us, except that the last person who came to the hospital asking questions about the Morgans was…Rachel Keller." Lorelei sounded very triumphant.

"And he told us that she lives in Astoria," Shaggy added, taking the phone from Lorelei. "He like, gave us an address for her and everything."

"That's great you guys!" Daphne said. "But Astoria is a half-day trip both ways. It'll literally take us all day to get there and back."

"Don't worry, Daph," Velma told her. "You and I will be going to visit her tomorrow while everyone else goes to the hospital on Moesko Island. I would ask you guys to do it there, but you need all the time you can get to search the Morgan house."

"Sounds groovy, Velma!" Daphne said. "We'll have this mystery solved in no time!"

"Hold on," Fred said. "What about your original mission? What did Rose have to say?"

"Absolutely nothing," Velma said. "She can speak, but she's not all there yet. When I asked her how Jonathan died, all she said was 'she will show you'. I had no idea what that meant."

"Okay well, at least you learned something," Fred said as he parked the Mystery Machine. They had arrived at the Morgan house, and they all got out of the car. "We're here now, so we'll check in with you guys later."

"Good luck guys. We're going to stick around for a while and see if anyone else can help us learn more about Anna Morgan. See you back at headquarters!" Velma said before hanging up.

"All right," Fred said. "Daph and I will check out the house. Scoob, you stay out here. Bark if you see anyone approaching and we'll leave around the back way and meet you back at the van."

"Rokay, Reddie," Scooby said, saluting him and posting himself at the door as Fred and Daphne ventured inside.

The house was old and very, very musty. They walked through the hallway past a staircase and into a kitchen/living room area.

"Hey look at this, Freddie," Daphne said from the kitchen window. "They've got a barn out back."

"Look at this," Fred said from the living room. "There are boxes of video tapes in here."

"Are they more cursed video tapes?" Daphne asked him, aghast.

"I don't think so," he replied. "They're all labeled."

"ROWF! ROWF! ROWF!" came Scooby's barking from outside.

"Uh-oh," Daphne said. "Looks like we've overstayed our welcome."

"Let me grab this," Fred said, grabbing a video labeled "Samara's Examination". "We'll watch it when we get back to HQ."

x.X.x

But when Fred, Daphne and Scooby arrived at HQ (at the same time that Shaggy, Velma and Lorelei did), they didn't get a chance to watch the examination video. For they found a champagne-colored Buick parked outside, and inside, they found that their television was currently in use.

By Lorelei's mother.

"Dottie?" Velma exclaimed.

"Oh no. I forgot Mom came back today," Lorelei muttered

There was static on the screen.

"…Please don't tell me that you watched what I think you just watched," Velma whispered.

"What?" asked Dottie.

Suddenly her cell phone rang.

"Wait, don't answer it!" cried everyone. But they were too late.

"Hello?" asked Dottie, and she turned white as a sheet. She closed her phone and stared at her sister. "Velma, tell me what's going on."

"Wait a minute. Where did you find that tape?" Velma asked.

"It was right here on the couch," Dottie replied. Lorelei paled.

"Oh no," she murmured. "I forgot to get rid of the copy that I accidentally made this morning…"

"Velma…is this what I think it is?" Dottie whispered. "Because I'm suddenly having a flashback to my friend from college…Rachel Keller?"

"Yes, Dottie. It is what you think it is," Velma mumbled. There was a silence.

"How in the world did you guys get swept up in this mystery?"

"It's not Aunt Velma's fault, Mom," Lorelei began. "The night you left, when I said there was someone in the Gates' house? I meant there was someone _besides_ Rose. And then after you left, we heard a scream come from inside the house so we went to see what was wrong and Jonathan was _dead_! So we started to investigate and we found this tape…"

"Did you watch it, too?" Dottie asked, horrified.

"…Yes, but-" That was as far as Lorelei got before Dottie cut her off and spoke to her sister.

"Velma, do you have any idea what this tape does?"

"Of course I do, Dottie! I watched it, too!" Velma cried.

"Velma, I trusted you!' Dottie exclaimed.

"I didn't even know she watched it!" Velma defended herself.

"It's true, Mom! She knew nothing about it, I did it all on my own!" Lorelei spoke up. "It isn't Aunt Velma's fault that we caught up in a mystery-"

"_We?" _cried Dottie, turning to her daughter. _"They_ got caught up in a mystery, Lorelei! Not you!"

"I'm caught up in it now too, Mom! I'm involved! I'm more involved than you know!" Lorelei was on a roll. "I've been seeing things, and hearing voices. I've found so many clues and learned so much-"

"You've been letting her _help?_" Dottie interrupted Lorelei once again, turning back to Velma.

"She's been a big assistance, ma'am," Fred said as respectively as he could.

"Like, it's true!" Shaggy added and Scooby nodded in agreement.

"I promise Dottie, we meant Lorelei no harm-" Daphne began.

"Of course you didn't. Why in the world would you possibly be out to kill my daughter?" Dottie said those words with the exact same inflection that Velma had earlier that day to Mary Jane. She took the girl's hand. "Come on, Lorelei. We're going home."

"What?" cried everyone else.

"Mom, I can't leave! I have to help them!" Lorelei protested.

"Lorelei, they have solved dozens of mysteries without your help. I'm sure they can handle this one on their own."

"Dottie, we need all the help we can get," Velma pleaded. "This isn't like the rest of our mysteries – there are lives at stake now! And Lorelei's been great-"

"You are not involving my daughter in this madness anymore," Dottie snarled through gritted teeth. "You've always put mysteries before anything else, Velma, even your own family. I packed Lorelei's things for her while I was waiting for you all to get here, and now I'm taking her back to Lyonsville. Goodbye." And with that, Dottie picked up Lorelei's suitcase with one hand and gently pulled her daughter along behind her as she stormed out of Mystery Inc Headquarters.

When they had gone, everyone looked at each other.

"Well like, now what do we do?" Shaggy asked, sinking into the couch. Scooby whimpered and lay down at his master's feet.

"What we _do_," Fred said fiercely, "is keep going with the investigation. Shaggy, Scooby and I will still go to the Moesko Island Psych Ward tomorrow, and Daphne and Velma will still go see Rachel Keller. We can't just stop because we've lost Lorelei. Her life is still at stake. And now, so is Dottie's."

"Don't forget Patrick and Mary Jane," Daphne spoke up.

"And like, Velma," Shaggy added. There was a silence.

"Of course. We could never forget Velma," Fred sighed, rubbing the younger girls' shoulder. Shaggy felt a twinge of jealousy. "I promise Velma," Fred continued. "We'll save you and your sister and your niece. And we won't stop till we do."

* * *

**Sponge: Wow. So like, five people have watched the tape now. Just so you all remember: Today was the end of Velma's third day, the end of Patrick's and Mary Jane's second day, the end of Lorelei's first day, and the beginning of Dottie's first day. What will become of our heroes? Only one way to find out! Review!**


	6. Chapter 6: Day 4

**Sponge: Welcome, everyone, to chapter 6! Even more paranormal happenings in this chapter, so be prepared! Oh, also: I understand that Coolsville is apparently in Ohio, but for the purposes of this story, it's in Washington state. I have a literary license, so I can do that. It's the same reason I can change part of the plotline of **_**The Ring **_**– people who have seen the movie will see some things in this chapter that were not in the movie. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Enjoy chapter 6!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Day 4**

The next morning, around eleven AM, the gang split off in their separate directions. Dottie had taken the Acura back (she had Velma drive it back to Lyonsville, and then Fred followed in the Mystery Machine to drive Velma home) so Velma and Daphne had to take a bus to Astoria. Meanwhile, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby took the Mystery Machine to Moesko Island.

"Rye riss Rorelei," Scooby whimpered from the back of the Mystery Machine. He and the girl had formed a bond during her brief stay. It was nothing like the bond he had with Shaggy, but still…Scooby had come to think of Lorelei as a friend, much the same way he thought of Daphne, Fred and Velma.

"Like, I know, Scoob," Shaggy sighed.

"We all miss her," Fred agreed from the drivers' seat. "But we can't focus on that. We need to find out as much as we can about Anna Morgan today."

While the boys were having this conversation, Velma and Daphne were having a very different one on the bus to Astoria. Although, it didn't start out that way.

"It's strange," Velma told Daphne. "Lorelei was only with us for a few days, but I miss her so much…"

"We all do, Velms," Daphne said.

"Maybe it's because this week was one of the last times I'll ever get to see her," Velma muttered bitterly.

"Don't say that, Velma!" Daphne chided. "We're going to solve this mystery and everything's going to be okay. You'll get a lot more chances to see her."

"Not if Dottie has anything to say about it," Velma sighed. "Even if I do live, Dottie will never let me see her again after this."

"Why is Dottie so against us solving mysteries anyway?" Daphne wondered.

"She thinks it's foolish. Even when I was in high school, she thought it was stupid. She – and my parents and Madelyn – thought there were so many other activities that I could occupy my time with." Velma sighed. "It wasn't as bad after she went to college." She glanced sideways at Daphne. "Did I ever tell you the story of Dottie's husband?"

"No," Daphne said. "The gang and I all wondered what in the world happened to Lorelei's father, but we never found an appropriate time to bring it up."

"Well," Velma sighed. "Dottie is nine years older than me. While she was at college – with Rachel Keller – she met a man named Bill Benson. She was completely infatuated with him, and she didn't see it then, but he was totally taking advantage of it. He told her he loved her and that she meant the world to him and all that junk. And then, their last year of college, he got her pregnant."

"Jeepers," Daphne whispered. "What happened next?"

"Well, I guess he must have actually loved her at some point because he said that he wanted to have a family with her, so they got married as soon as they got out of college, and then the baby came."

"Lorelei?" Daphne guessed. Velma nodded. "Then what?"

"Well, three years into the marriage – and Lorelei's life – Bill decided that he wasn't suited for 'family life'. One morning, Dottie woke up and Bill was gone. He had left his car and most of his stuff at the house, but he'd taken a taxi and just left them high and dry," Velma said. Daphne raised a hand to her mouth.

"How horrible," she murmured.

"My sister always had a way with the men," Velma said. "But sometimes she just attracted the wrong kind. She was so in love with Bill, but it turned out to be such a bad situation. Because of her experience, I've always been cautious about the men I let myself get involved with. It took me so long to get with Patrick not only because I was nervous, but because I wanted to make sure he was actually a good guy before I gave him my heart." Daphne furrowed her brow.

"Were you…in love with Patrick?" she asked. Velma blew out a puff of air.

"I don't know. Maybe I was. And Patrick _is_ a good guy, just…not the one for me, I realized."

"What about Shaggy?"

Velma turned scarlet. "Shaggy? Where in the world did that come from?"

"I don't know…it seems like there's some more chemistry between you two nowadays…especially since Mary Jane and Patrick are out of the picture," Daphne said, grinning to herself as she took note of Velma's blush.

"What are you insinuating, Daphne?" Velma didn't like where this was going, but she supposed that it was inevitable that Daphne would find out sooner or later.

"I'm not insinuating anything. I'm just asking…do you have feelings for Shaggy?"

There was a pause.

"…Yes," Velma admitted quietly. "But they're different than the feelings I had for Patrick. They're…stronger, I guess. Deeper. It's complicated to explain. It's like, Shaggy is my best friend, but then there's something…more underneath."

"You should tell him, Velma," Daphne said. She knew that Fred had told her not to meddle in romance anymore, but she couldn't help this. It was too perfect.

"_Tell_ him?" Velma was flabbergasted. "What would I say?"

"Just tell him that you have feelings for him. You owe it to him, I think," Daphne told her. "At this point, your time to tell anyone anything is running short. I don't mean to be harsh, but…" She trailed off and Velma sighed.

"You're right, Daph. But I have no idea what to say."

"Well you don't have to think about it right this second," Daphne said. "But you should tell him before it's too late."

x.X.x

Meanwhile, Fred, Shaggy and Scooby had made it safely to the island and had parked the Mystery Machine outside of the hospital, trying to come up with a plan.

"Okay guys, here's what we're going to do," Fred said. "I'm going to find some doctors and ask them about Anna and…what did Lorelei say the daughter's name was? Samara?"

"Like, I think so, man," Shaggy replied.

"Anyway, while I'm doing that, you two are going to sneak into the record room and try to look at their files," Fred continued.

"Like, I have to sneak into the file room again?" Shaggy sighed. "Like, all right. But last time I got in was because of Lorelei."

"Roo ran ro rit, Raggy!" Scooby encouraged him.

"All right, gang. Let's go!" Fred said. They walked into the hospital and Fred approached the receptionist while Scooby and Shaggy sneakily slunk down the hall in search of the record room.

"Hello," Fred said to the receptionist. "Can you help me?"

"Hold on a minute," said the girl behind the desk, who was currently on the phone.

"I can help you," said a voice behind him. Fred turned and saw an African American nurse with deep brown eyes and ebony hair.

"Uh…" Fred lost is train of thought for a moment. "I'm Fred Jones. I'm a detective."

"Sophie Porter. I'm a nurse here. What are you investigating, Detective?"

"You can call me Fred," he told her. "I'm investigating a series of mysterious events that seem to have involved a couple of your ex-patients…Anna and Samara Morgan?" The kind expression on Sophie's face turned stricken.

"No one has asked about the Morgans in years…" she muttered. "Not since-"

"Rachel Keller?" Fred guessed. Sophie stared at him.

"How did you-?"

"I'm investigating the same thing she was," he told her. "Now what can you tell me about Anna and her daughter?"

"Well for starters, I can tell you that Samara was not really Anna's daughter," Sophie said.

x.X.x

Meanwhile, Scooby and Shaggy had successfully snuck into the record room (this one was easier to break into – it had a lock that Scooby picked with his nail) and were searching the 'M' cabinet for Anna and Samara's files.

"Like, why can I never find anything about this woman?" Shaggy sighed, digging through the drawer.

"Raggy! Rye round rit! Rye round rit!" Scooby cried joyfully.

"Like, you found Anna's file! Way to go, Scoob!" Shaggy scratched his pet affectionately between the ears as he took the file and began to read.

"Like, I can't find anything interesting…or helpful," Shaggy said, but he realized that he'd spoken too soon. "Zoinks! Like, check this out, Scoob!"

"Rut ris rit, Raggy?"

"Like, it says that Anna and her husband Richard adopted Samara after their first child was kidnapped at birth!" Shaggy looked at the file in confusion. "Anna's not Samara's real mom!"

"Ren roo ris?"

"Like, I don't know." Shaggy checked the file. "Some woman named Evelyn. There's no last name. I bet it'll be in Samara's file. Like, see if you can find it, Scoob."

"Rokay, Raggy!" And the dog set to work.

x.X.x

Meanwhile, Sophie was telling Fred how Samara came to be in the Morgan's care.

"Richard and Anna had wanted a child forever," she began, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear to reveal gold studs. "But their first child was kidnapped at birth. No one knows how it happened or who did it, but the Morgans were devastated. After several years, their pain had finally cleared and they tried again for a child – but Anna could no longer carry a baby to term. So they left, and when they returned, they brought with them a child. They had adopted her, they said. But something about the girl was…strange."

"Strange how?" asked Fred.

"Well the reason that Anna was in a mental hospital in the first place was because she complained about gruesome visions that happened whenever Samara was nearby," Sophie said. She fiddled with her stethoscope. "So they did some studies on Samara as well, but after what happened on the mainland, they had to be transferred back to us. You know…the reason Samara was put up for adoption in the first place was because her birth mother tried to drown her as an infant."

"Why would someone do that to their own child?" Fred wondered.

"Evelyn had the same types of visions that Anna did," Sophie explained. "You know, at one point all three of them were in this hospital at the exact same time. But Anna and Samara were released before anyone realized it. And Evelyn recently died, anyway."

"Wait…Anna was delusional. Why was she released?"

"I don't know, but I wish she hadn't been. She and Samara had at least been safe here."

"Safe? From what?" There was even more to this story than Fred had realized.

"Not what, Mr. Jones. Who," Sophie corrected him, playing with her stethoscope again. "You see, Samara's supernatural abilities had not only greatly disturbed Anna, but they greatly disturbed the horses that the Morgans kept as well. Before Samara and Anna had been institutionalized, Samara had somehow caused all of the horses on the ranch to go mad and commit suicide, which greatly disturbed her father. So when Samara and Anna returned…"

"What?" Fred wanted to know.

"Well, it was believed for a long time that Richard threw Samara down a well, and then pushed Anna off a cliff. But he killed himself by electrocuting himself in a bathtub before anyone could accuse him of anything." Sophie sighed. "But I'm telling you…ever since the Morgans died, this island has been a lot more peaceful."

Fred was baffled. He had no idea what to say next. But he had found out all that he could.

"I would let you look at their files," Sophie offered. "But patient files – even those of the deceased – are off-limits. Besides, someone burned Samara's file after she died."

"Who?" Fred asked.

Sophie shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

"Don't worry, you've done plenty. Thank you," Fred said before shaking Sophie's hand. "I'll probably be back tomorrow, so if I need anything else, I'll come to you." With that, he turned on his heel and headed for the record room. _I need to tell Shaggy and Scooby._

x.X.x

Finally, the bus stopped in Astoria. Daphne and Velma checked the address for Rachel Keller and studied the map at the bus stop.

"Thank goodness," Daphne said. "She only lives three blocks away." So the two women began their walk.

A few minutes later, they reached the house. There was a young boy playing outside, probably nine or ten years old.

"Hello," Velma said to him. "My name is Velma, and this is my friend Daphne. We're here to see your mother. Is she here?" Velma really, really hoped that this kid was Rachel's.

"She's inside," the boy answered.

"Thank you," Velma said and she and Daphne headed up the porch and knocked on the door. A few moments later, a blonde woman answered the door, looking confused.

"Do I…know you?" she asked the women.

"Only through association," Velma said, holding her hand out for a handshake. "My name is Velma Dinkley. This is my friend Daphne Blake."

"Rachel Keller. Why does your name sound familiar?" Rachel wanted to know as she shook Velma's hand.

"My sister Dottie roomed with you in college," Velma told her.

"Oh! My God, I haven't seen Dottie in years! How in the world did you find me?" Rachel asked.

"Well…I'm a detective, Ms. Keller," Velma said.

"Please call me Rachel. And come on inside so we can sit and get out of this heat." Daphne and Velma followed Rachel inside as she called out to her son. "Aidan, are you sure you don't want to come in?" The boy shook his head, so Rachel shrugged and gestured for the two women to sit on a couch. "I was just making iced tea. Would you care for some?"

"Um…actually that sounds wonderful. Thank you," Daphne said and Velma agreed. A few minutes later, Rachel re-appeared with a pitcher of iced tea and three glasses. She sat in an armchair as she poured drinks for Daphne and Velma.

"Now, you say that you're a detective, Velma?" Rachel asked as she handed her a glass.

"We both are," Velma said. "And a mystery that you were once involved in has come to our attention." Rachel looked puzzled.

"A mystery?" she wondered. "I can't remember a time I've been in a mystery…"

"Rachel," Velma said. "Do you know anything about…a cursed videotape?" Rachel's previously puzzled-but-pleasant expression slacked into a stricken one.

"Oh no," she murmured. "Did you watch it?"

"Yes," Velma admitted. "And my niece. And my sister. And my ex-boyfriend. And my friend's ex-girlfriend." Rachel moaned and put her face in her hands.

"That's so many people."

"Rachel," Daphne said. "Do you have any idea how to break the curse?"

"She'll never stop," Rachel muttered.

"Who? Who will never stop?" Velma demanded.

"Please, Rachel," Daphne pleaded. "We need to know how to lift the curse."

"You have to spread the evil," Rachel mumbled. Suddenly, without warning, she started seizing out of nowhere. Daphne and Velma both jumped to their feet.

"Jinkies!" Velma cried, at the same time Daphne exclaimed, "Jeepers!" Rachel was convulsing on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Velma had never seen a seizure this severe. "What should we do?" she asked.

"We have to call an ambulance!" Daphne cried.

"I know that, but I mean her son is outside. What are we going to do about _that?_"

"Uh…call an ambulance for him, too?" Daphne suggested from the window. Velma followed her gaze and saw that Aidan, too, was seizing.

"Jinkies," Velma muttered again, grabbing her cell phone and dialing 911.

x.X.x

After the ambulance had come and collected Rachel and Aidan, a few paramedics stayed behind to question Daphne and Velma.

"Do you have any idea why they started seizing?" one asked.

"No," Daphne replied. "We were just sitting there, talking to Rachel, when she suddenly started convulsing."

"She could be epileptic," another paramedic suggested.

"But don't flashing lights usually have to go off to trigger an epileptic fit?" Velma asked.

"And besides, it wouldn't explain why her son started seizing also," the third paramedic pointed out.

"Yes, well," said the first paramedic brusquely. "I suppose you two can go,"

"Will you call us when they're better?" Daphne asked, scribbling the number for Mystery Inc.'s hotline onto a piece of paper from her purse.

"Of course," said the paramedic, taking it and heading back to his colleagues. Velma and Daphne walked back to the bus station.

"You know why they really started seizing, right?" Velma asked.

"I'm guessing it has something to do with the tape," Daphne guessed.

"Yep," Velma said. Then she sighed. "Our mission was a bust."

"Well, we found out that we need to spread the evil in order to lift the curse," Daphne pointed out, trying to look on the bright side of things. However, it didn't seem to cheer up Velma.

"Yeah…but what does that even mean?"

x.X.x

Meanwhile, in Lyonsville, Dottie was getting extremely freaked out. She had been upstairs on her laptop working, but when she came downstairs, she found her daughter at the kitchen table, drawing pictures of houses, wells, trees and circles – lots and lots of circles.

"Lorelei, what is all this?" Dottie asked. There were several pieces of paper strewn about the kitchen.

"I don't know," Lorelei said. "I just…see them in my head. And then…they are."

Dottie had no idea what to make of that remark.

"I need to call Aunt Velma, Mom," Lorelei pleaded. "I need to. I'm sure these visions I'm having are important somehow. It could help them."

Dottie could tell that her daughter was cursed. Dottie knew that she was cursed, too. Her nose bled sporadically, and she'd suffered horrific nightmares the previous night. So she relented and handed her phone to her daughter.

Lorelei found her aunt's number and dialed.

"Hello?" came Velma's voice through the phone. She was back at HQ now with everyone else and had just finished telling them about her and Daphne's adventure in Astoria.

"Aunt Velma, it's me!"

"Lorelei!" Velma's friends looked up and gathered around as she put Lorelei on speaker. "Does your mother know you're calling?"

"Of course she does, I'm using her phone. Didn't it show up on your caller ID?" Lorelei asked. "Anyway, I'm calling because I've been having these weird visions all day."

"Visions of what?" asked Fred.

"I don't know. Wells and trees and houses. And lots and lots of circles. I told Shaggy about them yesterday. I don't understand it. But I know it's important. It has to be."

Dottie had exited the kitchen to let her daughter talk in private, but wound up eavesdropping anyway. She sighed. She could tell that Lorelei had vital information to the case – even if the girl herself was unclear of what exactly the information was. Four days ago, if someone had asked Dorothy Benson if she would allow her daughter to help solve a life-threatening mystery, she would have said, "Not a snowball's chance in hell!"

But now it seemed she had no choice.

She re-entered the kitchen and took the phone from Lorelei. "Velma," she said. "It's me. I realized I was wrong. Lorelei has been drawing pictures of the things she's been seeing all day and I know that the visions are important. They're terrifying. I understand now what a huge help she is to you guys. So," Dottie took a deep breath. "I'm bringing her back to Coolsville now so that she can help you guys. I promise I'll let her stay with you until you solve the case."

x.X.x

There was a semi-joyful reunion when Lorelei returned to HQ (it was only semi-joyful because Dottie was very reluctant about leaving her again). But at last, Dottie had gone home, and Fred was filling Lorelei in on the Plan for Tomorrow.

"We – meaning you, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne and me – are going to go back to Moesko Island to try to learn some things about the locations on the tape," Fred told her. "We have a feeling that all of the locations are on the island."

"You mean, we'll all go together?" Lorelei whispered. The only time the entire gang had been together had been the times they all gathered back at headquarters at the end of the day when they all informed each other of their findings. She grinned at the thought of them all being a unit as they investigated.

"Yes," Velma promised. "We'll all go together."

* * *

**Sponge: Yay! Lorelei's back in the picture! By the way: Dottie IS a nickname for Dorothy. Just in case you didn't know/didn't think it was true. I have a funny story about Dorothy-s by the way. My grandmother's name was Dorothy, but when she was in school there were like, five other Dorothy-s in her class. So one Dorothy remained Dorothy, another became Doro, another became Dottie, another became Dot, and another became Period. Guess which one my grandma was? Yes, that's right. My grandmother was called – and introduced herself as – Period. I love my family. Anyway, enough about me. How'd you like this chapter? Tell me in a review!**


	7. Chapter 7: Day 5

**Sponge: WOW it's already chapter seven! That means this story is half over! (le sad face). Anyway…I have a confession to make. This is sort of a filler chapter. There's no suspense if the mystery doesn't get solved JUST in the nick of time, so the gang is going to get a little…sidetracked in this chapter. Prepare yourselves though, because there will be an INSANELY Freddie-like trap in this chapter. I apologize in advance for my description of the trap, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Have fun!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Day 5**

White.

That was all Velma could see. She squinted at the brightness and shielded her eyes with her hand. Eventually, the brightness faded enough that she could see a door in front of her. Curious, she turned the knob.

She seemed to be in a little girls' room. There was a TV in the corner, as well as a bed up against the wall. Directly in front of her, in the center of the room, was a little girl – probably the one whose room this was. She was sitting in a chair, with her back turned to Velma.

"Lorelei?" Velma ventured. She knew that this couldn't be Lorelei though. This girl had long, jet black hair. Velma touched the girl on the shoulder.

The girl grabbed Velma's arm.

Velma awoke with a shout.

Unbeknownst to her, Lorelei was having the exact same dream.

x.X.x

Scooby and Shaggy snapped awake upon hearing two terrified yells coming from the rooms on either side of their room.

"Rut ras rat?" Scooby yawned.

"Like, I think Velma and Lorelei just woke up from nightmares," Shaggy said. Scooby perked his head up.

"Rye'll reck ron Rorelei," he offered, jumping from the bed and dashing from the room. Shaggy watched Scooby's tail vanish and sighed. Against his better judgment, he ventured back to Velma's room.

"Like, Velma?" he said as he knocked. "Are you all right? Can I come in?"

"Y-Yes," Velma gasped from the other side of the door. Shaggy opened her bedroom door and let himself in. He saw that Velma had turned her bedside light on – and that there was a handprint on her left forearm.

"Like, zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he rushed to her side. "Velma, what happened?"

"I…I had a dream that…someone grabbed me," she managed. She was staring at the handprint, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

"Like…and you woke up with a mark on your arm?" Shaggy didn't like this. He didn't like this at all.

"Shaggy…I'm really scared," Velma admitted. Shaggy stared at her, flabbergasted. Velma Dinkley, frightened? That was his and Scooby's job. "I have never been more terrified in my life. I'm literally shaking…"

"Like, I'll hold you steady," Shaggy said, wrapping his arms around her (as his brain cried, '_WHAT ARE YOU DOING_?'). To his utter astonishment, Velma's arms coiled around his torso as well. He could feel her hands on his bare back and he turned bright red. Still, he held the shaking young woman as he gently stroked her back, his nose pressed up against her hair again, and he softly sang to her.

x.X.x

"Look at this," Lorelei said, showing her forearm to Scooby. He saw the handprint and stared at her.

"Row rid rat rappen?" he asked.

"Someone grabbed me in my dream," she explained, her eyes filled with fear. She had turned her light on, so it was less scary, but she was still freaked out. "I don't want to talk about it though." Lorelei forced herself to focus on something else – and her mind drifted back to an event that had happened a few days ago.

"Scooby," she said. "Can I talk to you?"

"Rabout rut?" he asked. He hoped that _she_ was going to pick the topic this time.

"Shaggy and my aunt." Scooby hadn't been expecting that.

"…Rut rabout rem?" he asked, confused.

"Something happened the other day." Lorelei explained to Scooby the exchange that Shaggy and Velma had had in the Acura when they went to the Coolsville Psych Ward. How Shaggy had told Velma that he thought she was beautiful.

"Rut rar roo rinking?" Scooby asked, still not getting it.

"I'm thinking that my aunt is in love with Shaggy," Lorelei told the dog. Scooby stared at her.

"…Really?"

"Yes, really. Do you know if he feels the same?"

"Rye…ron't roe," Scooby admitted.

"I think he does, but I want you to find out for sure," Lorelei told him. She looked at her clock – it displayed the time 3:03 AM. "My aunt only has two days left to live at this point. She is way too shy to say anything to Shaggy herself, so he's going to have to make the first move."

"Rut Rye ron't roe rif re roves rer," Scooby pointed out.

"Please find out, Scooby," she pleaded. After a pause, Scooby nodded.

"Rokay. Rye romise." Lorelei grinned and kissed Scooby on top of his head.

"Thank you Scooby," she whispered. She rolled over and fell asleep again, and Scooby was left with only his thoughts.

x.X.x

It was half-past noon when everybody woke up.

"Why in the world did we sleep so late?" Fred cried as he and the others dashed to the Mystery Machine after a very rushed breakfast (or lunch...). On the way, Velma caught sight of Lorelei's arm.

"Lorelei, what happened?" Lorelei looked at her arm, and then looked away.

"Well…I had this dream…" But her aunt cut her off with a tap on the shoulder. She rolled up the sleeve of her orange turtleneck, revealing an identical handprint. Lorelei's eyes widened.

"We had the same dream!" she realized. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm really scared, Aunt Velma."

"I'm scared, too," Velma admitted. "But we have to be brave if we want to solve this mystery." Lorelei paused before she asked her next question.

"Are we really going to die, Aunt Velma?" Velma sunk to her knees so that she was eye-level with her niece and cupped her face in her hands.

"I promise, I will never let that happen," she said. "I will do everything in my power to make sure it doesn't." Lorelei looked at her aunt, nodded and hopped into the Mystery Machine. Soon, they were headed for Moesko Island, with Fred, Daphne and Velma in the front seat and Shaggy, Scooby, and Lorelei in the back.

Lorelei nudged Scooby, and then jerked her head at Shaggy, indicating that she wanted him to ask about Shaggy's potential feelings for Velma. Scooby nodded, and then turned to Shaggy. He had wondered all night about how he would go about asking this question – if he should build up to it or what.

But eventually, Scooby had decided that the best course of action was to be blunt and ask his master straight out.

"Raggy?" Scooby whispered.

"Like, what's up buddy?"

"Rar roo rin rove rith Relma?" Scooby had said this quietly, but the noise Shaggy made in response was rather loud. It caused Fred, Daphne and Velma to look back at him questioningly and Lorelei to snicker.

"…You okay, Shag?" Fred asked.

"Like, I'm fine," Shaggy said. Then he turned to Scooby and hissed, "What to you mean, am I in love with Velma?" He glared at Lorelei. "Like, did you put him up to this?"

"…Maybe," Lorelei hedged. "But I'm not part of this conversation. This is between you two." With that, she turned out the window and watched the scenery fly by, but continued eavesdropping on Shaggy and Scooby's conversation.

"Rell? Rar roo?" Scooby whispered. Shaggy sighed again.

"Like…I don't know," he said. "I feel _something_ for her, but I have like, no idea what it is. It might be love but I've never been in love before, so how would I know?" He sighed. "I'm sorry, Scoob. I should have told you sooner."

"Rit roesn't ratter," Scooby said, smiling. "Roo rould rell Relma, roe."

"Like, but what do I say?" Shaggy sighed. "You know Scoob…of all the monsters and ghosts we've faced…I think that telling Velma how I feel is like, much scarier than all of them put together."

x.X.x

Once they arrived on the island, they were greeted with an odd circumstance. There were several people running for the ferry.

"Hey Fred," said Shaggy as they drove off the ferry. "Like, isn't that the receptionist from the mental hospital?"

Fred rolled down the window. "Hi…can you tell me what's going on?"

"Something weird is happening at the hospital," she explained. "A ghost is wandering the halls and scaring the patients. At first we thought they were hallucinating – cuz they're crazy, you know? But then one of the doctors saw it, and now we have to transfer all of the patients to other hospitals. It's the ghost of Evelyn."

"Evelyn…" Fred tried to figure out why that name was familiar.

"Like, dude!" Shaggy said, tapping his shoulder from the backseat. "That was the name of Samara Morgan's birth mother!"

This was news to Daphne, Velma and Lorelei.

"Wait…Samara wasn't Anna's kid?" Lorelei asked.

"And you knew? When did you find that out?" Velma asked Fred.

"Yesterday. I guess we never got around to telling you because we were too busy listening to your account of what happened in Astoria. Apparently the Morgans adopted Samara after their first child was kidnapped at birth," Fred replied. He leaned out the window to the receptionist. "I wouldn't worry about the ghost, ma'am. It's probably just some guy in a mask trying to scare everyone away."

"Why would they need to scare people away from a mental hospital?" the receptionist asked him.

"I don't know," Fred told her. "But we'll find out."

x.X.x

"Freddie, are you _sure_ this is a good idea?" Daphne whispered as they entered the (now deserted) hospital. "I mean…we are here to do something else."

"Don't worry. We'll bust this ghost in no time," Fred promised. "Now, let's split up and search for clues. Shaggy and Scooby, you go down the left hallway. Daphne and I will go down this center hallway, and Velma and Lorelei will go down the right hallway." Lorelei sighed in exasperation. She had wanted her aunt to be paired up with Shaggy. She considered suggesting that she go with Scooby, but decided that she would feel much safer with her aunt. So without a complaint, she followed her aunt down their assigned hallway.

Lorelei knew better than to ask her aunt questions about Shaggy. Knowing Velma, she'd probably get so flustered that she'd walk into a wall and lose her glasses or something. So Lorelei resisted the temptation and continued to walk alongside her aunt.

"What are we looking for?" Lorelei asked her aunt.

"Anything that could lead us to this alleged 'ghost'," Velma replied.

"Like this?" Lorelei knelt to the ground and picked up something she found against the wall.

"What is that?" Velma asked, squinting at the miniscule piece of jewelry in her niece's hand.

"It looks like a gold earring." Lorelei looked at her aunt. "What does a ghost want with a gold earring?"

"The first thing you learn about the mystery business," Velma said, "is that most of the ghosts are fakes."

"You think this ghost is fake, too?" Lorelei asked.

"I'd place a lot of money on it," Velma replied. "However, that doesn't mean that it isn't scary, so keep an eye ou-"

Velma was interrupted by something falling from the ceiling. It was small, and when she picked it up, she realized it was a second gold stud.

"…Where did that come from?" Lorelei asked. She and Velma slowly turned their eyes up to the ceiling. Looking back down on them was what could have only been described as a ghost. Her skin was pale and her hair was long and black. The most terrifying thing about her was that her eyes were red – and that she dropped from the ceiling and began to _glide_ towards them.

Lorelei screamed.

"Run!" shouted Velma and the two of them took off down the hallway with the ghost in hot pursuit. "Quick, duck in here!" Velma grabbed Lorelei's arm and yanked her into an empty room. They stood up against the wall as the ghost rushed past the open door. After a few moments, Velma peered out.

"Is it safe?" Lorelei asked.

"The coast is clear," Velma answered. Lorelei was rubbing her arm. "Sorry. Did I grab you too hard?"

"Well, you grabbed me here," Lorelei said, gesturing to the handprint that was already on her arm from her dream.

Velma sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"It's okay." Lorelei looked at her aunt. "Do you know who that little girl was? In our dreams?"

"No," Velma admitted. "At first I thought it was you, but…"

"Aunt Velma," Lorelei said. "I would have thought for sure you would have recognized her."

"…Recognized her from where?"

"The tape," Lorelei explained. "She was the little girl who backed away from the mirror."

x.X.x

In the next hallway over, Daphne and Fred weren't having much luck.

"Fred, I don't even know what to look for," Daphne said.

"Clues, Daphne," Fred replied. Daphne rolled her eyes.

"I wish I had a clue to a clue," she grumped.

"Hmm…these could come in handy," Fred said, picking up a rope and eyeing a gurney.

"Come in handy for what? Fred, are you already thinking about building a trap when we haven't even SEEN the ghost yet?"

"It's never too early to prepare, Daph," Fred said. "Besides, I'm sure someone has run into the ghost by now."

"No kidding."

That voice was new. It came from Lorelei, who had just entered the hallway with her aunt.

"Did you guys see the ghost?" Daphne asked.

"Yep. It chased us and everything," Lorelei told her. "But we found a clue!" She held up the pair of gold earrings.

"Why would a ghost need gold earrings?" Daphne wondered.

"Simple: it's not a real ghost," Fred replied. "Now, where are Shaggy and Scooby?"

"Who knows?" said Velma. "Knowing them, they could be anywhere."

x.X.x

Where they were (surprise, surprise) was the kitchen.

"Like this hospital food isn't too bad, eh, Scoob?" Shaggy said, taking a bite of some Jell-O.

"Rope! Rit's rood!" Scooby said, smacking his lips.

"Like check this out," Shaggy said, leaning down and picking something off the floor. "It's a stethoscope. I wonder what it's doing in here."

"Rearch re," Scooby said, shrugging.

"Like here's what we'll do," Shaggy said. "I'll be the doctor and you'll be the patient."

"Rokay!" said Scooby. Shaggy put the stethoscope in his ears and listened for Scooby's heartbeat.

"Like, good news, sir," he said. "You have a nice, strong heartbeat." Shaggy suddenly furrowed his brow. "But…wait. Scoob, your heart is beating really fast. I like, don't think that's normal." He looked up into Scooby's face and saw that it was filled with terror. Slowly, Shaggy turned around – and found himself face to face with the ghost of Evelyn.

"AAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH!" Shaggy yelled. "Run, Scoob!" The pair darted out of the kitchen.

x.X.x

Fred, Daphne, Velma and Lorelei searched for Scooby and Shaggy for a long time but couldn't find them anywhere.

"Doesn't Shaggy have a cell phone?" Lorelei asked. "Why doesn't someone just call him and say 'Hey, come back to the front desk'?"

"I tried," Daphne said. "But I have no bars. I guess I don't get reception in the hospital."

"Well that's lame," Lorelei pouted. But no sooner had she said this then there was a sudden yell from the opposite end of the hall. Lorelei turned just in time to see Scooby and Shaggy sprinting towards her. They barreled into her, knocking her off her feet.

"Oof!" cried all three of them as they hit the ground.

"Are you guys okay?" Fred asked, running over to check on everyone.

"What are you running from?" Velma asked.

"L-l-like, the ghost!" Shaggy exclaimed, pointing behind him. Everyone turned, but there was nothing there.

"Well, it's gone now," Daphne said.

"Um…not that I'm not enjoying this…" came Lorelei's muffled voice from the ground, "but um…I can't really breathe. Can you get up, Scooby?" The dog saw that he was sitting on the girl and immediately picked himself up and helped her to her feet.

"Thanks," Lorelei said. "Hey Shaggy, what's that around your neck?" Shaggy looked down.

"Oh. The stethoscope. Like, I forgot I still had this."

"Where was it?" asked Daphne.

"Rin the ritchen!" Scooby replied.

"What was a stethoscope doing in the kitchen?" Daphne wondered.

"Maybe it belongs to our ghost," Fred said.

"But dude, Evelyn wasn't a doctor. She was a patient," Shaggy reminded him.

"She's not a REAL ghost," Lorelei told him exasperatedly. "So what do we do now?"

"Catch her," said Fred. "And here's how we're going to do it…"

x.X.x

"Get ready, Lorelei," Velma warned. "You're about to witness a Fred-trap first hand."

They had assembled an assortment of ropes, a gurney and a bucket into a very…elaborate trap.

"Does Fred aspire to be like Rube Goldberg or something?" Lorelei asked. Velma chuckled.

"Okay gang, everyone in their places?" Fred asked.

"Yes!" came four other voices and a bark.

"Okay Shaggy. Go over the loudspeaker."

"Like, I still don't see why _I _have to do this," Shaggy sighed as he went to the front desk and pressed the intercom button. "Like, will Evelyn's ghost come to the front desk please? Thank you."

"Oh, that was brilliant," Lorelei teased. "Seriously, you should be an orator or something." Shaggy glared at her, but he knew she was joking.

"Jeepers, I think she's coming!" Daphne said. Sure enough, a few moments later, the ghost appeared.

"Get ready gang," Fred said. The ghost glided towards the gang angrily.

"How does she do that?" Lorelei asked, looking a bit frightened.

"One…two…three…NOW!" On cue, Velma and Lorelei pulled the end of one rope while Daphne and Fred pulled the end of another. The bucket tumbled from its position on top of a high cabinet and landed directly on Evelyn's head. She struggled to get it off, but at that moment, Scooby and Shaggy pushed the gurney at her. She was knocked off her feet and landed on the gurney which rolled merrily down the hallway.

Unfortunately, Scooby's tail somehow got caught on the gurney and he traveled along with it.

"Oh no," Daphne muttered.

"Typical," Velma sighed.

"What do you mean 'typical', Aunt Velma?" asked Lorelei.

"Scooby gets caught in our traps a lot."

"You mean this kind of thing happens often?" Lorelei sighed. "It's a wonder you guys get anything done."

"Well actually, Scooby usually winds up unmasking the villain," Velma explained.

Sure enough, as Scooby rode the gurney, he yanked at Evelyn's hair in an attempt to stay on – but it came out from under the bucket into his paws.

"Like hey!" Shaggy cried. "The ghost's wearing a wig!"

CRASH! The gurney hit the wall at the end of the hallway.

"Scooby!" cried everyone as they raced to see if the dog was okay.

He was just fine. He held the wig in one paw and the bucket in the other, looking very triumphant. He had unmasked the ghost. The problem was, no one recognized her. At least, not everyone. The flour that had obviously been used to give her a ghostly appearance had been smudged off her face and there was something familiar about her dark skin to Fred.

"…Sophie Porter?" he asked.

"Who?" said everyone else.

"She's a nurse here," Fred explained. "I would never have guessed it was her."

"Does she even have a motive?" asked Daphne.

"No," Sophie sighed. "I did this because someone put me up to it."

x.X.x

In between the time that they caught her and the time the police came to collect her, Sophie had been haggled endlessly by questions – most of them from Lorelei.

"How did you make your eyes red?" she asked.

"Red contacts," was Sophie's reply.

"How did you make it look like you were gliding?"

"Roller skates."

"How come you did it?" But Sophie refused to tell Mystery Inc who had put her up to this stunt or why. And unfortunately for the gang, it was getting extremely late and they had to get back to HQ before the ferry stopped running.

"We didn't get ANYTHING done today," Lorelei pointed out once they were back on the mainland and driving back to headquarters.

"I know," Fred moaned. "I'm so sorry you guys. It's all my fault – I should never have gotten us caught up in the Evelyn's ghost mystery. All it did was sidetrack us and slow us down, and we essentially wasted the day."

No one said anything else until they reached headquarters. When they arrived, Shaggy headed for the kitchen.

"Like, who's hungry? I'll make some sandwiches," Shaggy offered.

"…Do you promise not to do anything weird to them?" Lorelei asked.

"Of course," said Shaggy with a smile and he and Scooby began preparing sandwiches for the entire starving gang. Lorelei slumped on the couch in the main room and felt something beneath the cushion.

"What the-" She reached between the cushions and pulled out a video tape.

"What's this?" she asked. She noticed it was labeled "Samara's Examination."

"Oh my gosh!" Fred exclaimed. "Daphne and I found that video at the Morgan house the day before yesterday. We were going to watch it when we got back, but then Dottie was here…"

"What do you think is on it?" Daphne asked.

"Shaggy! Scooby! Come in here!" Velma called. The two came from the kitchen as Fred popped in the video and Velma explained what it was.

When the picture first came on screen though, Velma gasped and Lorelei uttered a small scream. The others looked at then in confusion.

"What is it?" asked Daphne.

"It's…it's the little girl from the tape," Velma whispered. "There was a little girl on the tape who backed away from the mirror while Anna was brushing her hair…"

"She's the one who did this," Lorelei said, gesturing to the handprint on her forearm. "Aunt Velma and I had the same dream last night that she grabbed our arms…and when we woke up…" The fact that Lorelei and Velma had had the same dream was news to Shaggy and Scooby, and the fact that Lorelei and Velma had had dreams at all was gobbledygook to Daphne and Fred.

"Like…this video is called 'Samara's Examination', right?" Shaggy whispered.

"…The little girl is Samara Morgan," Velma realized.

Samara sat on a stool facing the camera, her hair hanging in front of her face, although you could see slivers of her face through the hair.

"Samara," came a voice from the other side of the camera. "My name is Dr. Scott. I'm here to ask you some questions about some problems you've been having. Now, can you tell me about the horses?"

"Horses?" Velma whispered.

"The Morgans kept and bred horses," Fred whispered back. "Sophie told me about it yesterday at the hospital."

"They died," Samara whispered.

"Do you know how?"

"…No," Samara confessed. "I know I did it, but I don't know how. I don't mean to hurt people. But I do. And I'm sorry."

"Do you not like the horses?" asked Dr. Scott.

"They keep me awake at night," Samara answered.

"Everything makes so much more sense now," Fred whispered.

"What?" Velma grabbed the remote and paused the video. "Fred, maybe you ought to tell us the rest of what happened in your conversation with Sophie."

So Fred divulged the conversation he'd had with Sophie the previous day. He told them about the visions that Samara caused Anna to have (which Velma had known) and about how the horses killed themselves (which no one had known) and about how Samara died by being thrown down a well, Anna had died by being pushed off a cliff, and Richard had died by electrocuting himself in the bathtub (also which no one had known).

"I'm still not getting the horse thing," Velma said. "Where did the Morgans keep all these horses? It sounds like there were a lot."

"My guess would be in the barn," Daphne said. Velma glanced at her.

"…What barn?"

"There's a barn behind the Morgan's house." Daphne noticed how intensely Velma and Lorelei were staring at her. "…What is it?"

"Daphne, there was a barn on the tape," Velma told her.

"And you know what I just realized?" Lorelei asked. "The house on the tape is probably the Morgan's house."

"Okay," said Fred. "We need to check out these places tomorrow. And we have to work fast. We've already lost precious time today. We can't afford to lose any more. So tomorrow we'll all go to the Morgan place and check it out."

Velma shuddered. Tomorrow was her sixth day – her second-to-last day to live. She really hoped they would solve this mystery tomorrow. Not just for her sake, but for Patrick's and Mary Jane's and Dottie's…and Lorelei's.

* * *

**Sponge: So, I guess it wasn't as much of a filler chapter as I'd hoped – they did wind up discovering some things. They discovered Samara Morgan is the little girl on the tape and the one that Velma and Lorelei dreamed about (P.S: That scene in the movie freaked me out SO MUCH.) And no worries – the identity of who put Sophie up to pretending to be Evelyn's ghost will be revealed all in due time. But until then, keep the reviews coming!**


	8. Chapter 8: Day 6

**Sponge: Welcome back to "Scooby Doo and the Mysterious Tape!" This is the next installment in this thrilling story – I'm sure you all are very excited to find out what happens – I don't want to give anything away, but I think that a lot of Shelma fans may be happy by the time this chapter is over. And a few Fraphne fans too (such as XxLadyStrengthxX – the Fraphne hints in this chapter are dedicated to her!). Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Also, I recently re-watched **_**Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade**_** for the 20-bazillionth time, so there is a line in this chapter that was inspired by the "rats" scene in that movie. (If you haven't seen any Indiana Jones movies, please go do it. They are classics.) Enjoy chapter 8!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Day 6**

For the first time ever, Velma and Lorelei were going to face one of the locations on the tape head-on. Lorelei considered this as she brushed her teeth after breakfast. She realized that she was scared – terrified, rather. But she knew that she could brave it with her beloved aunt and her friends by her side.

Lorelei shook her head in an effort to stop thinking about how scared she was. Instead, she turned her thoughts to the fact that this was her aunt's second-to-last day to live. To her knowledge, Shaggy still had not told her how he felt about her. Lorelei was not going to let her aunt die without the two of them at least knowing how the other felt.

"Scooby," Lorelei said as the dog passed by the bathroom. Lorelei had just finished brushing her teeth (who knows what Scooby had been doing upstairs) and walked down the hall with him.

"Rut ris rit, Rorelei?" the dog asked.

"We need to kick into high gear," Lorelei told him. "Tomorrow is Aunt Velma's last day to live – and Shaggy still hasn't told her anything, has he?"

"Re's rared," Scooby told her.

"Okay well…what do you usually do when he's scared? He goes around solving mysteries and chasing ghosts, there's gotta be_ something_ that gets him through it all."

"Rooby Racks!"

"…Scooby Snacks?" Lorelei's face blanched. "You feed him dog treats to get him to be brave?"

"Rit rorks ror re, roo!"

"Well of _course_ it works for you. The treats are meant for dogs."

"Rog? Rare?"

Lorelei stared at the dog baffled, then shook her head. "Anyway, my point is that you and I need to badger Shaggy about this like it's nobody's business. Okay?"

"Rokay, Rorelei!"

x.X.x

The car ride to the ferry was pretty much uneventful – it wasn't until the reached the ferry and began the ride to Moesko Island that things got interesting.

Everyone got out of the Mystery Machine to wander the ferry, but Velma tripped on the way out of the van. Luckily, Shaggy caught her. In his arms.

"Uh…thank you, Shaggy," Velma mumbled, extremely flustered.

"Yeah, like…no problem," Shaggy replied, just as flustered. They looked at each other, blushed, and turned away. Shaggy began walking one way and Velma walked another. Scooby and Lorelei glanced at each other knowingly, then stuck to Shaggy like glue.

"Like, all right," Shaggy said finally turning around. "What's up, Lorelei? Why are you following me around?"

"Have you told my aunt how you feel yet?" she demanded. Shaggy, whose face had pretty much returned to its normal color, turned pink again.

"Like, no I haven't," he admitted.

"When are you gonna?"

"Like, I don't know!"

"Well you better do it soon, because you know, she's probably gonna die tomorrow," Lorelei said, glaring at Shaggy.

"Rorelei's right, Raggy," Scooby told him.

Meanwhile, Daphne and Fred were also worrying about Velma's impending final day to live.

"Do you really think she's going to die tomorrow, Freddie?" Daphne asked, staring out at the ocean.

"…I don't know, Daph." Fred found that he couldn't look her in the eye. Instead, he put his arm around her shoulder. "I had really been hoping that this tape wasn't real…but now it seems like Velma really is cursed. Especially considering the dream she and Lorelei had last night…"

"What are we going to do?" Daphne whispered.

"Solve this mystery," Fred replied firmly.

Velma, in the meantime, had wandered to another part of the ferry and had met a young teenager with a horse.

"Moesko Island is famous for their horse shows," the girl was saying. "This is my first time competing. That's my horse, in that trailer over there." The girl pointed to her right. "You can go say hello if you like. Star is very friendly."

Velma approached the trailer. "Hey there," she said to the horse. It was a beautiful horse, barrel-chested and lean-legged with a gorgeous chestnut color and a white spot in the middle of its forehead – Velma supposed that's where it got the name "Star". Velma grabbed a handful of oats from a nearby bucket and offered them to Star. The horse nickered as it came closer. Suddenly, something incredibly odd happened. The horse whinnied and began rearing and bucking. Its eyes grew wide and it began foaming at the mouth.

"Jinkies…" Velma breathed, backing away from the trailer. She couldn't stop looking at Star's eyes. She was reminded of the eye of the horse on the tape.

"What happened?" asked the girl, alarmed.

"I don't know!" Velma replied. Star continued to kick and neigh, and then began deliberately trying to break down the door of the trailer.

"Star! No!" cried the girl as the horse escaped and charged straight for Velma. Velma's eyes grew wide with fear as she sprinted away with the horse galloping close behind. Velma reached the end of the ferry and had nowhere else to run. Her friends were helpless to do anything.

"Velma!" shouted Shaggy. Velma let out a yell of terror as she dropped to her knees to avoid the horse. Star then jumped over the side of the ferry, hitting her hind hooves on the edge, and tumbled into the ocean. Everyone in the vicinity rushed to the side of the ferry and looked down to see where the horse had gone – except for Shaggy, who rushed directly to Velma's side.

"Like, are you all right, Velma?" he asked as he helped her to her feet.

"…I don't know…" Velma was still in shock from being chased by a horse, and now she was flustered by Shaggy's arm around her. He was flustered as well, but Velma didn't know. Suddenly, the motor of the ferry slowed and there was a group cry of disgust from the people who were looking over the edge. Lorelei turned pale, Scooby gave a shout of terror and ran away from the edge and Daphne buried her face in Fred's shoulder. Curiously, Shaggy and Velma looked over the edge of the ferry, only to see Star's blood in the water…

x.X.x

"Why do you think she jumped?" Lorelei asked once the ferry docked and they began driving to the Morgan's house.

"Re ras rared," Scooby answered.

"She was…scared?" Lorelei was confused.

"Star must have gotten caught in the motor," Fred said quietly. "That's where the blood came from."

"No kidding," Velma muttered under her breath so no one would hear. Louder, she said, "Let's change the subject. How are we going to split up once we get to the house?"

"Fred, Lorelei and I will check out the house again," Daphne said. "Velma, Shaggy and Scooby can go to the barn."

"Like, the barn?" Shaggy said. "No way, man."

"Reah! Ro ray!" Scooby agreed, nodding his head vehemently.

"Will you go into the barn for a Scooby Snack?" Velma offered. Shaggy and Scooby looked at each other.

"Like, fine," Shaggy sighed and Scooby nodded his head excitedly. Lorelei made a face.

"I thought Scooby was kidding when he said you ate dog food…"

"Like, why do you have to go around insulting my eating habits all the time?"

"Why can't you just eat like a normal person?"

The playful banter continued until they reached the Morgan house. Then all talking ceased. Velma and Lorelei stared up at the house and saw the window from the tape. The one that had had the face peering out of it.

"I…have to go in there?" Lorelei whispered. Velma took her hand and squeezed it.

"You'll be fine," she promised. "Fred and Daphne won't let anything happen."

"We promise," Daphne agreed. Lorelei took a deep breath and followed everyone out of the car.

"All right, where's the barn?" Velma asked.

"Right around the back," Daphne said. "You can see it from the kitchen window."

"We'll meet back at the Mystery Machine when we find something," Fred said. And with that, they went in their separate directions. Fred and Daphne stepped into the house without hesitation – Lorelei took a little longer to work up the courage.

"It's all right, Lorelei," Fred said kindly. "Just stick with us. You'll be okay." Lorelei nodded and stepped into the house.

"Where should we look first?" asked Daphne.

"Let's work our way up," Fred suggested. "We'll start in the basement."

"In the _basement?_" Lorelei was horrified, but Daphne took her hand.

"I promise, Lorelei. Everything will be okay." Reluctantly, Lorelei ventured into the basement with them. She wished her aunt was with her. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, she made a face.

"Oh rats," Lorelei muttered. "Literally." Fred and Daphne turned to where Lorelei was looking and saw several rats in the corner. Daphne gave a squeal of disgust and the rats scattered and crawled into the wall.

"Okay, let's stay out of that corner," Fred said. "Let's look over here." The basement was even mustier and dustier than the upstairs. There were also a lot more boxes in the basement – the three of them literally had to climb over them to get anywhere. Lorelei tripped on one and a bunch of things came toppling out.

"Lorelei, are you all right?" Daphne asked

"I'm fine. Hey, there are a bunch of pictures in this box," Lorelei said. They were all of Anna and Richard. Lorelei and Daphne combed through them as Fred searched another box.

"Hey, this one's of all three of them," Daphne said. Anna and Richard stood behind Samara with their hands on her shoulders. Samara's hair was tucked behind her ears – she was actually a very pretty little girl– but her smile was only half-hearted. Richard looked grim and Anna looked as if her smile was only a cover-up for wanting to cry.

"Not a very happy family," Lorelei remarked. She dug through some more photos until she found one that took her breath away. "Oh my gosh…"

"What?" asked Daphne and Fred.

"Look at this!" Lorelei turned the picture around to show them a photo of the Morgans and an unfamiliar blonde woman.

"I don't get it," Fred admitted.

"Oh that's right, you guys haven't been to Shelter Mountain!" Lorelei exclaimed and she pointed to the blonde woman. "She was the girl behind the desk at the inn. Her name is Deanna."

"There are lots more pictures of her in here," Daphne said, digging through another box. "It looks like she knew the Morgans."

"How could she have known them?" Lorelei asked.

"Uh, I think I can answer that," Fred said from his box. "The name of the place is Shelter Mountain Inn, right?"

"Yeah," Lorelei said.

"I just found some papers that suggest that before it was an inn, the Morgans owned that piece of land."

"What?" Daphne and Lorelei both hurried over to Fred to read the papers in his hand.

"Jeepers Freddie, you're right!" Daphne exclaimed.

x.X.x

Velma stood outside the barn and stared at it. It looked exactly as it had on the videotape, only it was brown instead of black-and-white. She shuddered.

"Like, you all right, Velma?" Shaggy asked, taking her hand.

Why, oh WHY did he have to do that when she was already nervous enough? She gulped and nodded. "Help me open the doors, will you, Shag?"

The doors were heavy and difficult to open. But Velma, Shaggy and Scooby put in all of their strength and they finally pushed in the doors.

The scene that met them took Velma's breath away.

It was a big barn, with separate stalls on either side, presumably for the horses. It smelled of hay. But right before them, at the other end of the bar, was a ladder. The ladder, Velma realized, from the tape.

"Like, where do you think that ladder goes?" Shaggy asked.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out," Velma said. She gulped again and began to climb the ladder with Shaggy and Scooby following close behind her. She gasped when she got up to the hayloft.

"Like…it's a little girl's room," Shaggy breathed as he and Scooby climbed up.

What he didn't know was that it was the room that Velma had seen in her dream the previous night. The bed was up against the wall, the TV was in the corner, and the chair was in the middle of the room. It was the same chair that had suspended itself in midair on the tape.

"This…this was Samara Morgan's room," Velma realized. "That's why the horses kept her up at night! Because she was sleeping in the barn!"

"Like, who would keep their daughter in a barn?" Shaggy wondered.

"Well, Richard Morgan was accused of throwing the girl down a well, remember?" Velma said. "That's what Fred told us. And if she was giving her mother horrifying visions…maybe Richard thought this would be best."

"But like, when it didn't stop, he sent them both to the mental institution!" Shaggy realized. "And when _that_ didn't work, he killed them both!"

"Exactly!" Velma said. "But I don't understand why he would kill his wife…what was his motive for that?"

"Like if she went crazy, she probably wasn't the same woman he fell in love with," Shaggy pointed out. "Maybe she was just like, too different."

"Could be…" Velma muttered.

"Raggy! Relma!" Scooby barked. "Rook rat ris!" He pointed to the far wall of the hayloft, where the image of a tree was burned into the woodwork.

"Zoinks," Shaggy muttered. "Like, how did that get there?"

"I've seen this tree before," Velma said. "It was on the tape." She had no idea what to make of it.

x.X.x

Shaggy, Scooby and Velma scoured every inch of the barn, but found nothing else useful, so eventually they went back to the house to see how Fred, Daphne and Lorelei were doing. They found them in the basement.

"Look at these, Aunt Velma!" Lorelei exclaimed, producing the photos of the Morgans and Deanna.

"Like, who's she?" asked Shaggy.

"She's the desk clerk at Shelter Mountain Inn," Velma explained.

"Hey you know Aunt Velma," Lorelei said. "We never did pay her for the cabin, did we?"

"Well, we never actually stayed there either," Velma pointed out.

"True," Lorelei agreed. "Anyway, we think the Morgans may have sold her the land, because Shelter Mountain used to belong to them."

"You're kidding," Velma said.

"Nope. See?" Lorelei took the papers that Fred held and showed them to her aunt.

"Jinkies," Velma murmured. "You're right. What does this mean?"

"It means we have to go to Shelter Mountain," Fred said.

"Freddie, we don't have time," Daphne said. "The sun is already starting to set. We need to get back to headquarters before the ferry leaves."

"But…" Fred looked at Velma.

"It's all right," Velma said. "We can go to Shelter Mountain tomorrow."

"But…" Fred knew that tomorrow was Velma's last day to live – as did everyone else.

"We have until sunset. We'll be fine. Now let's go home and get some rest," Velma said firmly.

x.X.x

The ride home was silent. Lorelei fell asleep with her head in her aunt's lap. Shaggy patted Scooby absentmindedly, trying to work up the courage to do what he knew had to be done. He knew that Lorelei, Scooby and Daphne were right – he had to tell Velma how he felt about her. In all likelihood, she would die tomorrow.

And he would never see her again. He couldn't bear the thought of it.

When they arrived at HQ, there was some awkward standing around in the main room before Daphne said, "Well…I guess we ought to go to sleep."

"Right," Fred said. He gave Velma a one-armed hug. "Good night, Velmster. See you in the morning."

"Yeah," Velma replied, trying her best to look cheerful.

"Night, Velma," Daphne said, going in to give her friend a hug. The two women held each other for a long time and Daphne could feel tears beginning to prick her eyes. When they let each other go, she tore up the stairs so fast that she was literally just a blur of purple. Fred followed and found her crying on her bed.

"Daph, are you all right?" he asked, sitting on the bed beside her, rubbing her back with his hand.

"I…I'm g-going to miss her s-s-so much!" Daphne wailed. Fred gathered her into his arms and held her close.

"Shh," he soothed her. "It's all right. We've still got tomorrow. We'll solve this mystery before sunset."

"What if we don't, Freddie?" Daphne sniffled. "She's my best friend. I can't live without her…"

Back downstairs, Scooby was saying good night to Velma. He refused to think of it as 'goodbye.' He licked her hand affectionately and she scratched him between the ears.

"You're a good dog, Scooby," she whispered to him. When they were finished, Lorelei raced forward and threw her arms around her aunts' waist.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured. "It's my fault we got caught up in this. If I hadn't said anything about the Gates' house…"

"Don't blame yourself, Lorelei," Velma told her niece firmly. "I can't resist a good mystery. We would have gotten into this mess with or without you. And besides – I love solving mysteries. It's what I do. It's a good way to go…doing what I love." Shaggy felt a lump form in his throat when Velma said that. He was still having trouble getting used to the idea that Velma would probably die tomorrow. Lorelei broke away from her aunt and went to join Scooby. However, she pulled him away from the steps and into the shadows.

"Let's see what happens," Lorelei whispered. They watched from the shadow of the staircase as Velma and Shaggy said good night.

At first, neither of them seemed sure of what to do. They stood there for a moment or two.

"So…" Shaggy finally said, breaking the silence. "Like…are you scared?" Inwardly, he kicked himself. _What a stupid question. Of course she's scared._

"Terrified," she admitted. "How do you and Scooby deal with it?"

"Like, lots and lots of Scooby Snacks," Shaggy told her. She smiled.

"Right. Well…I should probably be getting to bed."

"Like, wait," Shaggy said, grabbing her hand. He looked into her eyes, brown boring into brown. Both had lumps of nervousness in their throats and they simultaneously swallowed. Shaggy, on an impulse of courage, pulled Velma into an embrace unlike any she'd ever experienced before. The top of her head came right up to his chin, and he bent his face down so it was buried in her hair. He could smell her wonderful citrus shampoo again. His long, skinny arms drew around her and held her to him tightly. Her arms wound around his back, connecting them with a bind that neither was willing to sever.

_Just say it, man_, Shaggy said to himself in his head. _I love you. I love you. _The more he thought the words, the more he realized how true they were. _Three little words. Eight little letters. I love you. You can do this._

But Shaggy's trademark was one that he was not proud of – and that was backing down at the very last second.

He chickened out.

"Good night," he said quietly, pulling away from her. Velma's face fell a little, as if she'd been expecting something. Her eyes searched his for whatever it was that she felt had gone unsaid, but she could detect nothing for his eyes refused to meet hers.

"Good night, Shaggy," she whispered back, before walking slowly up the stairs. Lorelei and Scooby sunk further into the shadows, and Lorelei inwardly fumed.

"You have got to be kidding me…" She had known that Shaggy was a fraidy-cat, but she had believed he would at least have the gall to tell the woman he loved how he felt about her the night before she died. "Oh, if I knew what his real name was, I would _so_ call him it right now!" Once she heard her aunt's bedroom door close, Lorelei charged from her hiding place in the shadows and headed straight for Shaggy, who was pacing the room in a state of regret.

"What was that?" she demanded as she approached him angrily, with Scooby directly behind her.

"Like…I can't do it, Lorelei," Shaggy muttered sadly, plopping onto the couch. Tears stung his eyes. "I couldn't tell her. I…I was too scared."

"I can't believe you!" Lorelei whisper-shouted, her blue eyes filled with rage. "You owe it to her to tell her, you know!"

"Like, it's not that easy, Lorelei!" Shaggy said angrily. "It's not like it's easy to tell someone how you feel about them!"

"I never said it was easy!" Lorelei cried. "But the things that are easy and the things that are right aren't always the same things." When Shaggy made no move to respond, Lorelei scoffed. "I always knew you were a chicken, Shaggy, but I thought you'd be able to let go of that for a few moments to tell Aunt Velma you love her. I guess I was wrong." Lorelei looked at him with pain and anger in her eyes. "You're a coward, Shaggy. And it shows so much that it's embarrassing. I guess it's a good thing you never told Aunt Velma. She deserved better than you!" Shaggy glanced up at the girl with a hurt expression on his face.

"…Deserv_ed_?" he asked, emphasizing the "ed" at the end of the word. "Like, past tense?"

"She's going to die _tomorrow, _Shaggy_. _You missed your chance," Lorelei said. Shaggy slumped back on the couch. He knew she was right.

"I want to tell her, Lorelei," Shaggy said. He could feel the tears in his eyes threatening to spill over. "I really, really do. But like…you're right. I'm a coward. I'm too scared."

There was silence from Lorelei. He looked up and the girl was gone. Only Scooby was there, staring at his master with mournful eyes and he approached him and rested his head on his knee. Shaggy pet Scooby's head absentmindedly as he muttered his tragic flaw over and over again in despair. "I'm too scared. I'm too scared. I'm too scared."

"Will you do it for a Scooby Snack?"

Shaggy looked up and found himself looking at Lorelei, who held out a single dog treat in her hand. He stared at her. "I found the box in the kitchen," she explained. "So…will you?" Shaggy took a deep breath. He swallowed. He reached forward and took the snack from the outstretched hand of the girl and ate it.

And with the courage of the Scooby Snack inside him, he boldly headed up the stairs to Velma's room. Lorelei smiled to herself.

"Think he'll do it this time, Scoob?" she asked the giant dog who sat beside her. Scooby grinned back at her, and looked back up the stairs.

"Rye roe re rill."

x.X.x

Shaggy knocked on Velma's door. "Like, Velma? It's Shaggy. Can I come in for a sec?" There was a pause. A few moments later, the door opened. Velma stood there, wearing her orange T-Shirt, her red pajama shorts, and her glasses. She was adorable.

"Come in," she said. Shaggy closed the door behind him as he entered and sat beside Velma on her bed. "Uh…what is it?" Velma had no idea what he was doing there, but she was glad he was. She had something she needed to tell him – and she needed to tell him tonight, before it was too late.

"Well uh…I like, have something to tell you," Shaggy said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh good, because I have something to tell you too," Velma said. "But um, you can go first."

"Well like, if you have something to say, you should go first," Shaggy offered.

"No, no, the whole reason you came up here was because you needed to tell me something. I don't want to steal your thunder," she said. Shaggy was about to argue, but he stopped himself and sighed.

"Like, what are we doing?"

"I don't know," Velma replied. "Hedging."

"Well…" Shaggy had no idea what to do now. He hadn't been expecting that Velma had something to say.

"I guess it says something, that we're avoiding whatever it is we want to tell the other person, huh?" Velma said sheepishly.

"Like, I guess," Shaggy replied. "But what it says to me is that like, it's not something we can tell each other. It's something we have to like, show each other." What was he doing? This was not in his plan!

"…Show each other?" Velma said. Shaggy gulped.

"Close your eyes Velms." Oh dear God, what was he doing? He couldn't believe he was doing something so forward. So bold. So…brave.

Velma glanced at him, puzzled, but did as she was told. Mustering up all the courage he had gotten from the Scooby Snack, Shaggy leaned forward and kissed Velma softly on the lips.

It was short, sweet and gentle, but it was enough to take her breath away.

"Jinkies," she gasped when they broke apart.

"What?" he asked alarmed. _Here comes the rejection_…

"Nothing. It's just that…" Velma gave a small "huh" of surprised laughter. "It's just that…we wanted to tell each other the same thing." Shaggy stared at her for a good five seconds before her words kicked in and he was so overtaken by joy and relief that she felt the same way that he leaned in and kissed her again. This time, she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Shaggy, again, had no idea what to do with his hands. Eventually, he used his arms to bring her as close to him as possible, wrapping them around her torso.

"How long?" he asked her after some time.

"How long what?"

"How long have you...like, you know?"

"Since high school," she admitted sheepishly. Shaggy's eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

"Like, for real?"

"It was just a crush," she told him. "But I don't know…the feelings grew, the more time we spent together."

"Like, what about Patrick?" he asked.

"You were with Mary Jane," Velma told him. "I needed a distraction from the heartbreak."

"…I broke your heart?"

"Are you kidding? It almost killed me when you got together with her," Velma sighed. "It was really rough."

"Well I mean…Mary Jane was like, cool and everything but…she's not you, Velms," he said, tracing a thumb along her cheek. "You're like, my best friend in the world…and I fell in love you, but I was too busy being distracted by Mary Jane to realize it." Velma glanced at him.

"You…love me?" Her smile grew so wide that it almost reached her ears. "Oh Shaggy…" She kissed him again. "I love you too."

They sat there for what seemed like hours, kissing and cuddling, until eventually, Shaggy caught sight of the clock on Velma's night table.

"Zoinks, it's like, eleven o'clock," he muttered.

"I don't want you to go," Velma said, her eyes pleading. "Please stay here for the night? We don't have to…you know. Anything like that. I just…want you with me. Please?"

"Like, you don't have to ask twice," he assured her. The two of them slipped under the covers and held each other. Shaggy sighed. "Like, I'm sorry I had to tell you like this."

"Like what?" Velma asked. Shaggy looked at her. "Oh, right." Velma sighed. "I'd almost forgotten." She snuggled closer to Shaggy.

"Are you scared?" he asked her for the second time that night. And for the second time that night, he kicked himself inwardly. _What a stupid question. Of course she's scared._

"Terrified," Velma confessed, also for the second time that night. "But you know, I'm glad I know how you feel now. And I'm glad I told you how I feel. It gives me a sense of peace."

"I'm like, just sorry that I didn't tell you sooner," Shaggy sighed, running his fingers through Velma's auburn hair. "I mean like, I finally have you…but I'm about to lose you." He shut his eyes, but a few tears escaped anyhow. "I don't want to lose you, Velms. I really don't."

* * *

**Sponge: Daaaaaaaaaaaaw. Don't you love Shelma? I think they're so cute. I'm so glad that Cartoon Network is making them boyfriend and girlfriend (by the way: as of today, July 3rd, 2010, T-minus nine days until the new series premieres on Cartoon Network. WHO is TiVo-ing the new series? Yep. This kid. The one who's going to college in the fall.) Anyway, I hope all the Shelma fans enjoyed the last part of this chapter. I sure had fun writing it. I haven't written fluff in such a long time – it's so nice. On another note…YIKES! Velma's only got one more day left to live! Will the gang solve the mystery in time? What will become of our favorite bespectacled member of the gang? All (or most) will be revealed in the next chapter! In the meantime, you can review to compensate for the wait! OH OH OH P.S: I have created a community called "Best Mysteries", designed for all the really good mystery stories of the Scooby Doo fandom. If anyone knows any good mysteries, please recommend them to me so I can add them to the community. I've already added this story (not because I'm conceited or anything but because I don't know of any other mystery stories…which is why I your help!) so just keep an eye out for it. And if anyone wants to be on the staff, PM me or something. Anyway…review!**


	9. Chapter 9: Day 7

**Sponge: Thanks everyone so much for your feedback! It means so much to me! Anyway. Wow. Velma's last day to live. Or is it? We'll find out soon enough, I suppose! I don't want to keep you all waiting, so I'll cut right to the chase. Just for your information: you will see some plot points of **_**The Ring Two **_**in this chapter (which I have never seen and never want to – I've just read the article on Wikipedia eight zillion times) so that's where the deer come from. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring **_**or **_**The Ring Two**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Also, all lyrics to "Samara's Song" belong to Dreamworks as well. (You ought to listen to "Samara's Song" – it is uber creepy from what I remember.) Enjoy chapter 9! (P.S: Happy Independence Day to everyone who is reading this in the U.S.! Check out my one-shot "Fireworks", written in honor of this holiday!)**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Day 7**

Daphne Blake was never one for rising early, but Saturday morning, she was awake before any other member of the gang. She rolled over and found herself face-to-face with Fred. She was a bit surprised to see him.

_What's he doing in here? Oh, right…he stayed with me last night because I was so upset._ Daphne allowed herself a small smile. It was wonderful that she could always count on Fred to try to make her feel happy again. She loved him so much.

Since she had no desire to go back to bed, she decided to check and make sure that everyone – mainly Velma – was doing all right.

When she opened her door she uttered a gasp of surprise. Velma seemed to be doing just fine, considering she was sleeping soundly in the embrace of two long skinny arms. Shaggy's arms. However, the two of them woke up when Daphne gasped. They sat up in alarm.

"Like, what was that?" Shaggy asked. He and Velma looked at each other, then towards the door, where they saw Daphne.

"Daphne!" Velma exclaimed.

"Sorry," Daphne apologized. "I didn't mean to wake you guys, I just…wanted to make sure Velma was doing okay. I think she's fine…" Daphne smiled a bit. "So…did you guys…?" Shaggy and Velma looked at her for a moment, and then Shaggy turned red.

"Like, no!" he cried. "We didn't do anything like that; see we've still got our clothes on!" Daphne turned red too.

"Oh no, I didn't mean _that_," she cried. Both she and Shaggy were very embarrassed – Velma, however, began laughing.

"Uh…I didn't mean anything like that," Daphne said. "I just meant did you guys tell each other how you feel?"

"Oh. Um, like yes. We did that," Shaggy said, still rather embarrassed. Velma's laughter was subsiding now into the occasional giggle. Daphne was still a little embarrassed, but grinned all the same.

"It's about time you crazy kids got together," she said before closing the door. In Shaggy's room she found no one – she wasn't sure where Scooby was, but she found him in Lorelei's room. Both of them were sound asleep. Daphne smiled to herself. Everything was all right. For a moment, life was good.

x.X.x

After everyone else had woken up and eaten breakfast, the gang began the long trek to Shelter Mountain Inn. Shaggy and Velma held hands the entire way. Fred didn't notice, although Scooby and Lorelei did.

"Good for you, Shaggy," Lorelei whispered at one point. "I'm proud of you." The rest of the ride to Shelter Mountain was rather silent until…

"Fred, where are you going?" asked Velma from the backseat.

"Uh…Shelter Mountain?"

"I don't recognize any of this," Velma said. They were in the middle of a very unfamiliar forest.

"I must have read the map wrong," Fred said. "Sorry gang."

"Like, are we lost?" Shaggy asked.

"Well…we're taking a detour…" Fred replied.

"Are you kidding me? We don't have time to get lost!" Lorelei exclaimed from the backseat. "Aunt Velma, maybe you better drive. You know how to get to Shelter Mountain."

"I don't know where we are," Velma pointed out.

"Don't worry gang," Fred said, taking a left. "I think if I go this way it takes me back to the main road."

"Don't worry, Freddie," Daphne comforted him. "I'm sure we'll get out of this forest-"

BUMP! The Mystery Machine was hit by something in the side.

"…soon," Daphne finished. "What was that?"

"I don't know-" Fred was interrupted by a second BUMP! This one shook the van.

"What's happening?" Lorelei asked, frightened. Scooby leaned out of Daphne's window and looked behind them.

"Reer!" he exclaimed.

"Deer?" asked the others.

"Deer," replied Fred grimly. Everyone looked out the front windshield and saw multitudes of deer – does, bucks and fawns alike, stampeding for the van.

"…Zoinks," was all Shaggy could say.

The deer began attacking the van, charging, kicking and pawing at it.

"Drive, Freddie, drive!" Daphne exclaimed. Fred put the van in reverse and began speeding back.

"What is going on with all these deer?" asked Lorelei, holding on to Scooby's neck for protection. Shaggy held Velma (although more out of fear than comfort). Daphne covered her eyes with her hands as Fred finally turned around, put the van into drive and sped away. Unfortunately, the deer were hot on their tail and continued ramming themselves into the van.

"Rey roe rore rursed. Rey're rared, roo," Scooby told Lorelei.

"They know we're cursed? They're scared...too?" Lorelei asked. "Like Star was yesterday?"

"Reah."

"How do you know this?"

"He's a dog, Lorelei," Daphne answered from the front seat.

"…Right," Lorelei replied. "I'm too scared to think proper-"

BAM!

"Like, hit the gas Fred!" Shaggy cried. Fred gunned it and sped away from the deer. Once they were far enough away that they were certain that the deer wouldn't follow them anymore, Fred pulled over and everyone tried to catch their breath.

"Is everyone okay?" Fred asked the general group.

"A little freaked out about almost being killed, but I'll be fine," Lorelei replied. She looked out the front window. "Aunt Velma, look!" Velma looked. There was a sign that said, "Shelter Mountain Inn, 2 miles."

"Hey! I found it!" Fred exclaimed.

"Yep. You did a great job, Fred," Lorelei muttered under her breath. Suddenly, there was a strange sound – like air leaking out of a tire – and a corner of the Mystery Machine sank a little.

"…What just happened?" asked Daphne. Fred got out of the car and went to take a look. When they heard him groan in despair, the rest of the gang followed.

"What's wrong?" asked Velma, alarmed.

"We have a flat tire," Fred told them. "It must have been punctured while the deer were attacking us."

"What are we going to do?" asked Velma.

"Daphne and I will stay here and change the tire," Fred said. Daphne looked aghast.

"I'm going to change a tire?"

"Yes, you're going to help," Fred said. "The rest of you walk to Shelter Mountain. It's about two miles away so it should probably take you about half an hour."

"Do we have that kind of time?" asked Lorelei.

"Yes. As soon as Daph and I finish with the tire, we'll meet you guys up there. It shouldn't take us too long – we have a spare tire in the back," Fred said. He took Velma aside. "Velma, I'm sure you're already aware of how dire the situation is…"

"I am, Fred," Velma said. "I'll be okay."

"All right, Velms. Daph and I will be there as soon as we can. I promise."

x.X.x

It took Velma, Shaggy, Scooby and Lorelei exactly half an hour to get to the inn. When they arrived however, it was deserted. No one was at the front desk, and the check in building was locked.

"What are we going to do now?" Lorelei asked.

"Raggy!" Scooby exclaimed. "Rook!" Scooby pointed off into the distance.

"Like, hey! It's the tree that was on the wall of Samara Morgan's bedroom!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Velma, look!" Velma and Lorelei both looked, and gasped.

"That's not all," Velma said. "That tree was on the tape. I can't believe I didn't notice it before – you can see it from the cabin and everything!" The tree stood alone on a hill a good twenty yards from the check in building. "All right, gang. Let's head to that tree."

x.X.x

"Like, do you really think there will be a clue here?" asked Shaggy. He and Velma were scouring every inch of the trunk, while Lorelei had climbed up into the branches and Scooby sniffed around the roots.

"I don't know, but it's possible," Velma replied. "Samara must have burned the image onto her wall for some reason..."

"I can't find anything up here," Lorelei said.

"Re reither," Scooby said from his spot on the ground.

"Like, I might have found something," said Shaggy. "Check this out." Velma helped Lorelei out of the tree and then they joined Shaggy and Scooby on the other side of the trunk. There, they found the number '12' carved into the wood.

"Rut ras rat rean?" Scooby wondered.

"…Cabin 12," Velma realized. "We have to go down to cabin 12."

They hadn't actually returned the key to Deanna the night they'd 'stayed', so Velma still had the key to the cabin. Lorelei tried the lights when they walked in.

"Oh, fantastic," she muttered. "The lights aren't working. That's just wonderful…"

"It's okay, there's still enough daylight to see," Velma said. However, sunset was fast approaching.

"How long do we have?" asked Lorelei.

"We have until the sun lowers itself over the tree," Velma said, pointing. They could see the tree from the window next to the TV. On a shelf, Lorelei found a flashlight.

"So like, what should we look-" Shaggy began, but a sudden cry from Scooby interrupted his sentence. Scooby had stepped onto the rug that was in the middle of the room, and it seemed as though the floor had collapsed underneath him.

"Like, what happened, Scoob?" asked Shaggy as he rushed to his best friend.

"It looks like there are loose floorboards under the rug," Velma said as she went over to inspect it. She moved the rug out of the way and sure enough, there were broken floorboards beneath it. She kicked the floorboards away to reveal a small area between the floor and the ground – sort of like a small basement. There was also something that no one had been expecting.

"Jinkies," Velma breathed, and Lorelei gasped.

"Like what?" asked Shaggy as he and Scooby peered down.

"It's…it's the well," Lorelei muttered. "The well that's the very last image on the tape."

"And," Velma realized. "The one that Samara Morgan died in." The others all glanced at each other. There was a large stone on the top of the well and as Velma lowered herself to stand next to the well, she tried moving the stone.

Shaggy, Scooby and Lorelei dropped down too, and they helped Velma push the heavy stone away. Cautiously, they looked down into the dark depths of the well. Lorelei shined her flashlight down, but couldn't see anything.

"How deep do you think it is?" Lorelei asked. Velma found a lose rock and dropped it in. After a while, they heard a splash.

"My estimation…about twenty feet?" Velma guessed. "At least to the water – I'm not sure how deep it is from the water to the bottom."

"Maybe there is no bottom," Lorelei murmured.

"That's ridiculous, Lorelei," Velma chided. "Of course there's a bottom."

"Like, what's that sound?" Shaggy whispered. A hush fell over the four of them as they listened. There was a harmonious buzzing sound that seemed to be coming from the well…

Suddenly, thousands of flies swarmed up from the top of the well and began buzzing around the four of them. They screamed as they tried to swat them away. But in the commotion, Lorelei had been backing away from the flies and bumped into the side of the stone well. Without warning, she tipped over backwards and tumbled head-over-heels into the darkness.

"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!" she screeched as she fell. The flies had disappeared and Velma, Shaggy and Scooby had seen her fall.

"LORELEI!" shouted Velma, reaching her hand down. Her niece landed with a splash in the water below. "Lorelei! Are you all right?"

"…I'm fine," Lorelei said waveringly. She found that her feet could touch the bottom of the well. She still had her flashlight so she shined it upwards. It certainly seemed like it was twenty feet to where the heads of Velma, Shaggy and Scooby looked down on her with concern painted on their face. "I'm standing on the bottom of the well – the water's not too deep, but it comes up to my elbows." Lorelei could feel tears pricking her eyes. "Please get me out!"

"Um…um…okay," Velma said hurriedly, trying to come up with a plan. Where was Fred when you needed him? "All right…Scooby will stay here with you. Shaggy and I will try to find rope or something. All right?"

"Okay…" Lorelei said waveringly.

"Be brave, Lorelei," Velma called down. "Come on, Shaggy!" With that, the two of them climbed out of the little room back into the cabin and ran out.

x.X.x

Shaggy and Velma ran all the way to the check-in building.

"Deanna!" called Velma, pounding on the door upon discovering that it was locked. She turned to Shaggy. "What are we going to do?" Shaggy looked around and found a large rock.

"Like, is it cool if we break the windows?"

Velma shrugged. "Desperate times call for desperate measures." The two of them hauled the rock up and threw it at the large window. CRASH! The glass shattered and Shaggy and Velma climbed through. Shaggy hopped over the check-in counter and helped Velma do the same. They searched everywhere for rope, but could find nothing.

"Like, I can't find anything," Shaggy said, turning to Velma. However, he was alarmed to see that she had sunk to her knees in despair. "Like Velma, what's the matter?" He rushed to her side and put his hand on her shoulder.

"…I failed," Velma whispered just before the dam burst and she began to cry. "I…I failed Lorelei. I failed Dottie and Patrick and Mary Jane. I'm going to die tonight and I haven't solved the mystery. All these people are going to die because of me!" she wailed through her tears.

"Like, Velma, stop," Shaggy said, pulling her close to him. He held her as she opened herself against him and just let the tears flow. To Shaggy's horror, he began to cry also. "Look. Like, I know that right now everything seems hopeless. But do you remember four months ago, when you like, had me and Scoob bring the control panel back to the machine that was making the monsters?" Shaggy wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and then brought them both to Velma's face so that her face was tilted up towards his. "Like, you told me that Scoob and me…Scoob and _I _were heroes. That meant more to me than you could possibly know. Like, you think that just because we can't find a rope makes you a failure? Velma, you are so wrong. We have learned so much about the mysterious tape since you like, started this investigation. So don't think for a single second that you let anyone down. You're a hero too." Shaggy swallowed as another tear escaped his eye. "Like…you're _my _hero. I love you so much, Velma." The two looked at each other and were just about to kiss when…

"Aw. How sweet." The new voice came from above. The couple swiveled their heads up to find Deanna leaning over the counter with a rope in her hands.

"Deanna!" Velma exclaimed, standing up. "Thank goodness. We need to borrow that rope. My niece fell down the well-"

"Excellent," Deanna sneered. That was when Shaggy and Velma realized that Deanna had an extremely sinister look on her face.

"…What?" Velma murmured. "Deanna, what's going on?"

"Well, let me explain," Deanna said. "We don't have much time though. It's almost sunset."

x.X.x

Back in the well, Lorelei shined the flashlight around.

"Rut's rown rare?" asked Scooby from above.

"Water," Lorelei replied. "Lots and lots of water. That's pretty much it." There was a rusty nail sticking out of the well point first – Lorelei recognized it as the rusty nail from the tape. The image of the finger being pierced by the nail paraded through her head. "She must have tried to climb out…dozens of times," Lorelei realized. She looked up at Scooby, who was suddenly looking off in the distance attentively. "Scooby?" asked Lorelei. "What's the matter?"

"Raggy's rin rubble," Scooby replied.

"Shaggy's in trouble? Wha-?" But before Lorelei could finish her sentence, Scooby darted away. "Scooby! Wait, come back!" But he was already gone. Lorelei was beginning to feel more terrified than she'd ever felt before. She began to try to climb out of the well, but she couldn't get a good grip on the stones – they were too slippery.

And then, something awful happened.

The stone began to roll itself back over the top of the well. Lorelei's eyes widened in fear.

"NO!" she cried. "Stop it! Stop it! Take it off! Don't leave me here alone in the dark!" But the stone covered up the light from the upstairs, leaving the flashlight as her only source of light. The flashlight, that is, and the ring of light that peeked through the edges between the stone top and the well. The ring of light, she realized, that was the very first image on the tape.

Lorelei began to cry.

x.X.x

"I'm sure you've learned much about Richard, Anna and Samara Morgan," Deanna said as she began to tie the rope into a strange knot. "But I bet you didn't know that they had a child before Samara."

"Actually, I did know that," Velma said. "But the baby was kidnapped at birth."

"True," Deanna told her. "Twenty years later, however, the baby found her birth parents. But they had brought home another child in her place…" Deanna shrugged. "It didn't matter, though. It was obvious that the Morgans loved their birth child more than the evil girl they adopted."

"Wait a minute…" Velma whispered. She stared at Deanna. "_You_ were the Morgan's kidnapped child!"

"Yes," Deanna said. "And when I found out who my real parents were, I went looking for them. I found them just as they had brought home a little girl named Samara to try to compensate for their loss…" Deanna smirked. "You know how Mom had all those frightening visions? You know how the horses went mad and stampeded to the ocean, killing themselves? Samara made those things happen because she was overcome with _jealousy_. Then, Daddy sent them both to the psychiatric ward and killed them when they came home. Or, so a lot of people believed. I didn't think that Daddy was capable of doing such a thing. After Mom and Samara died, Daddy and I built this inn, and we built cabin 12 over the well…which I'm sure you must have realized, given that your niece fell in." Deanna smirked again. "One day though, I was in cabin 12 and I found this video tape and I watched it. When it was over, I got a phone call, and I swore it was my sister telling me that I was going to die in seven days. Well, a week later, I struck a bargain with her. I asked her to let me live as long as I promised to try to kill as many people as I could who had broken the curse before their time was up. She allowed me to live as she does now – decaying and zombie like, but still walking. So what I do is I…suggest cabin 12 to everyone who comes to Shelter Mountain."

"You did that when Lorelei and Scooby and I came in!" Velma realized. "Did you suggest cabin 12 to Jonathan Gates and his friends, too?"

"Yes," Deanna admitted. "Thursday night, while his friends were all partying with their girlfriends, Jonathan came to see me. He wanted to know how to break the curse."

"How _do_ you break the curse?" Velma demanded.

"You don't need to worry," Deanna told her. "You're already broken it." Velma blinked.

"…I have?"

"Yes. But it won't do any good, because I'm going to kill you now." Velma and Shaggy finally realized what Deanna had been making with the rope…a noose. "Anyway, I refused to tell Jonathan anything. And then when you guys showed up, I offered you cabin 12. I knew my sister would be pleased. But then you got too close to solving the mystery, so I had my friend at the Moesko Island Psych Ward…sidetrack you guys." Velma and Shaggy stared hard at Deanna.

"You're the one who put Sophie Porter up to distracting us with the story about the ghost of Evelyn!" Velma exclaimed.

"Clever girl," Deanna smirked. "Too bad I'm about to kill you. You'll have to die, too," Deanna said to Shaggy. "You know too much."

"Velma! Shaggy!" That voice was new. Shaggy, Velma and Deanna turned to see Fred and Daphne climbing through the broken window, the Mystery Machine parked right outside. They rushed for their friends.

"We're not going to let you hurt Shaggy or Velma," Fred said fiercely.

"Try and stop me, pretty boy!" Deanna snarled.

"Rooby Rooby Roo!" That voice too, was new. Everyone turned to see Scooby charging through the broken glass window and head straight for Deanna, knocking her off her feet.

"That dog!" she growled. She picked up her rope again and lassoed it around Velma's neck. But the girl didn't choke. Deanna's eyes widened. "What the-?"

"Like, you can't hurt Velma!" Shaggy exclaimed. "You're too late. The sun has already set!" Deanna looked out the broken window and saw the last of the sun's rays disappearing behind the hill that the tree stood on.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she cried as her face began melting away.

"Rut's rappening?" asked Scooby in fear.

"She didn't complete her bargain with her sister," Velma told him over the noise of the roaring wind that had come from nowhere. "The deal is off!" Deanna howled as she decomposed before their eyes.

"And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids and your stupid dog!" were her final words before she disappeared completely. The gang stared at the place where Deanna had been standing. All that remained was the rope.

"…Like, hey Scoob," said Shaggy. "If you're here…who's watching Lorelei?" Scooby's face turned stricken.

"Ruh-roh," he said.

x.X.x

Lorelei's tears had subsided after awhile, although she was still extremely frightened. She was, after all, only seven years old. She was afraid of the dark. She was so glad she had her flashlight. She shined it all around until she caught sight of the handprint on her forearm. She stared at it, wondering what Samara must have been feeling while she was trapped down here.

"_Let me show you…" _There was that voice again. Lorelei shut her eyes in fear, but saw a picture in her head, clear as anything. She saw a little girl – Samara – standing at the edge of the well, softly singing a song.

"_R__ound we go  
The world is spinning  
When it stops  
It's just begining  
Sun comes up  
We laugh and we cry  
Sun goes down  
And then we all die…"_

Someone was advancing on Samara, holding a black plastic trash bag. Suddenly, the bag came over Samara's face. She struggled, but the person holding the bag was too strong. Lorelei recognized this scene – it had been on the tape as well. The person grabbed a loose rock and hit Samara on the side of the head with it over and over again until she fell limp in the person's arms. The person then whispered something into Samara's ear.

"I love you, Samara." Lorelei's heart pounded in her chest – it was Anna Morgan. Anna pushed Samara into the well, and then rolled the stone over the top. Tears streamed down her face as she walked through the trees and came to a cliff. Lorelei recognized another scene from the tape – the scene of Anna, with her arms spread-eagled on either side of her, falling off the cliff.

Suddenly, the well was flooded with light. Lorelei opened her eyes and looked up to see her aunt, Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne and Fred all standing at the top, lowering a rope down to her. Gratefully, Lorelei grabbed the rope and let them haul her up.

x.X.x

"Anna Morgan pushed Samara into the well. Not Richard." Lorelei said this as she sat in the back of the Mystery Machine, her legs dangling over the side and a warm blanket around her shoulders with Fred and Daphne on either side of her, Scooby at her feet and Shaggy and Velma standing in front of her. "And then Anna threw herself off the cliff out of despair for what she'd done."

"Richard never had anything to do with it," Fred realized.

"I should have figured that out," Velma said. "Anna falling off the cliff on her own was on the tape and everything."

"I still can't even imagine what it must have been like for that poor little girl to be trapped in that well," Daphne murmured.

"Like, how long could you even survive?" asked Shaggy.

"Seven days," Lorelei answered. There was a silence. "I think that when you're cursed by the tape…you see something before you die."

"What?" asked Velma.

"I think that before you die, you see the ring. Because that's the last thing that she saw." There was another silence.

"We should probably get home," Fred said after a few minutes. "It's really late."

"Hey, Aunt Velma," Lorelei said. "Weren't you supposed to die at sunset?"

"Deanna said I broke the curse," Velma said. Shaggy turned to her, grinning.

"So like, you're going to live."

"I'm going to live," Velma said, smiling back at him. Shaggy was overjoyed. He wasn't going to lose Velma after all. They could live happily ever after. Shaggy pulled Velma towards him and kissed her full on the lips – in front of everybody.

"Wha-?" Fred had to do a double take. Daphne, on the other hand, squealed and clapped her hands together before giving Freddie a kiss on the cheek. Scooby and Lorelei smiled at each other and began laughing.

Everything was all right.

* * *

**Sponge: Awww…it's over! WAIT…no it's not. We still have four more chapters left. This mystery isn't solved YET guys. We've still got other things to learn about the mystery of Samara Morgan and her cursed video tape. ****Oh, and just so you all know – the whole "Deanna" subplot is not in the original movie. I added that in as an extra means of suspense. Anyway…until next chapter, keep the reviews coming!**


	10. Chapter 10: Patrick and Mary Jane

**Sponge: All right, gang! Chapter ten coming atcha! First of all, I just want to give a MAJOR shout out to XxLadyStrengthxX. Everyone should know how awesome she is – she gives the greatest reviews ever! Anyway…I know you're all probably thinking, **_**What could Sponge possibly have up her sleeve now? **_**Well, the story's not over quite yet. I have to tie up all the loose ends. You'll see a few more plot points from **_**The Ring Two **_**in this chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring **_**or **_**The Ring Two**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Also, all lyrics to "Samara's Song" belong to Dreamworks as well. (Yep, you'll see the song again in this chapter.) Enjoy chapter 10!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Patrick and Mary Jane**

The next morning, Velma awoke feeling incredibly joyful. The weight of the world was off of her shoulders. She smiled to herself to find Shaggy beside her again. Her smile grew larger. He stirred in his sleep, and then awoke.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Velma said, still grinning brightly. Despite the sleepiness in his eyes, Shaggy beamed back at her.

"Like, good morning," he replied, kissing her. "How are you feeling?"

"So much better than before," Velma told him.

"Like, me too," Shaggy said. For lack of a more eloquent phrase, he continued with, "I'm like, so happy that you're not dead." Velma giggled. That was Shaggy – saying whatever it was he was feeling directly from the heart, not worrying about having a verbose way of saying it.

"I am too," Velma said.

Across the hall, Fred and Daphne were also enjoying each others' company.

"I can't stop smiling," Daphne was saying. "I mean…we were so close to losing Velma."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Fred said. "And she and Shag had just gotten together." Fred sighed and stroked Daphne's hair. "I wouldn't be able to bear it if I lost you."

"Good thing you'll never lose me, then," Daphne told him with a smile and a kiss.

And finally, Scooby and Lorelei were discussing things as well.

"Re rid rit!" Scooby exclaimed happily.

"Did what?" Lorelei was confused and still rather sleepy. Suddenly, it came to her. "OH! Aunt Velma broke the curse and she and Shaggy are together!" Lorelei beamed at the dog. "You're right, Scooby! We did it! We're quite a team, huh?"

"Reah!" Scooby cried, licking Lorelei's face. Lorelei laughed, but it was only half-hearted. She felt something odd inside her…some sort of odd sensation that something bad was going to happen.

The afternoon was a rather joyous as well – in fact, it was the happiest afternoon that the gang had had all week. Velma called Dottie around noon and told her that they'd solved the mystery and the curse had been broken.

"Velma, that's wonderful!" Dottie exclaimed. "Did having Lorelei around help?"

"Lorelei was a huge help," Velma told her. She neglected to mention the fact that Lorelei had been trapped in a well, but she figured that Dottie didn't need to know that right then.

"I'm so glad!" Dottie paused. "I'm sorry I yelled at you the other day."

"Don't worry about it, Dottie," Velma said. "I understand why you did. But you have to know that I would never let anything bad happen to Lorelei on purpose. I love her so much."

"I do know that," Dottie said. "It makes me feel good inside to know that Lorelei has been in such good hands all week."

Velma smiled and was about to say something else when Lorelei tugged on the hem of her sweater and reached for the phone. Velma gave it to her.

"Hi, Mom!" Lorelei said. "Um, we're having such an awesome time together…I was wondering if I could stay with them for a few more days so we can celebrate?" There was a pause. "No, I'm sure they wouldn't mind keeping me for a few extra days." Velma smiled bigger and took the phone back from her niece.

"We would love it if Lorelei stayed with us for a few more days," Velma told her. There was a pause. "Okay, you can pick her up Tuesday afternoon. That will be fine. See you then, Dot!" Velma flipped her phone shut. "Hey gang, Dottie's going to let Lorelei stay with us a few more days."

"Yaaaaaay!" cheered the entire gang from inside the kitchen where they were all having lunch. Lorelei beamed. Velma was about to say something else when the hotline rang.

"Sheesh," Velma laughed as she picked up the phone. "Hello?" Pause. "This is Velma Dinkley." Another pause. "Oh, hi Detective Edelbrock!"

"So like, what should we do to celebrate the end of the scariest mystery of our lives?" Shaggy asked. Lorelei was about to answer, when she was interrupted.

"_What?" _Velma looked stricken. The entire gang fell silent as they stared at her. Velma looked as though she couldn't believe her ears. "But…but that's impossible!" she stuttered. The other members of the gang looked at each other confusedly. "Well…" Velma sighed. "Yes, we'll be right down. Thank you." Velma hung up the phone and turned to the gang.

"That was Detective Edelbrock," she told them. "Patrick is dead."

x.X.x

"I don't understand it," Daphne said on the way to Patrick's house. She, Fred and Velma were sitting in the front seat while Scooby, Shaggy and Lorelei sat in the back. "I thought Deanna said that you had broken the curse,"

"She did say that," Velma said. "I don't understand either."

"Maybe…each individual person has to break the curse?" Fred suggested. Velma shrugged.

"That's a possibility. That's actually very likely."

"You know what this means though, right?" Daphne whispered. "It means that Lorelei is still in danger."

"And Dottie," Velma realized. "I just told her that I'd broken the curse, too!"

"Hey Velms," Fred said. "Don't blame yourself. Let's just talk to Detective Edelbrock for a few minutes and then we'll try to figure something out. All right?" Velma sighed and nodded.

When they showed up at Patrick's house, they were met by Detective Edelbrock.

"Hello, Mystery Inc," he said. "He's in here." Detective Edelbrock led them into Patrick's living room, where he was sprawled on the floor with a look of sheer terror on his face, much as Jonathan had been. Velma raised a hand to her mouth as tears stung her eyes. It was true, she no longer thought of Patrick romantically, but still…he had been a friend. Shaggy took her hand and held it.

"You found him like this?" Fred asked.

"Just like we found Jonathan Gates," Detective Edelbrock sighed. "I told you last week at the Gates' that the coroner has no idea how Jonathan died. He probably won't know what killed this man either." Detective Edelbrock turned to Velma. "We thought it was interesting that he had your name in his cell phone, so we called you right away."

"Thank you," Velma murmured. "We appreciate it."

"Do you have any leads at all in your investigation?" the detective asked. What could Velma say? What could _any_ of them say? Up until this afternoon, they had believed they had solved the mystery. Now, they were right back where they started.

"Nothing substantial yet," Velma said. "But we'll let you know."

"Please do," Detective Edelbrock told her. "These are the most disturbing murders those of us at the Tri-City Police Department have ever witnessed."

x.X.x

"Like, what should we do?" Shaggy asked as they left Patrick's house.

"Well obviously, Velma did something that Patrick did not," Fred said. "So we need to figure out what it was that she did and get Lorelei and Dottie to do it, too."

"I have no idea what it could be," Velma said.

"Maybe we should pay another visit to Rachel Keller," Daphne suggested.

"But didn't they say they would call you when she and Aidan were able to speak again?" Velma said, puzzled.

"Velma, we saw them four days ago. I find it pretty hard to believe that they wouldn't be able to speak to us after four days."

"I don't know…" Velma said. "It took Rose Anderson about five days to start speaking again – and even _then_ she wasn't all the way there."

"Well, I think we should go anyway," Daphne proclaimed. "Rachel is the only lead we've got that's still reliable. She knows how to break the curse. We just need to ask her." So Freddie turned the Mystery Machine around and drove to Astoria.

x.X.x

During all this, Lorelei had been having some extremely odd sensations. They weren't necessarily physical sensations – she just had a feeling that someone was right next to her for the entire time. She could have sworn that she heard the voice in her head laughing when they saw Patrick. Lorelei was terribly frightened by all these circumstances and had no idea what to do.

The entire (long) ride to Astoria was silent. At one point, Lorelei fell asleep and didn't wake up again until they arrived at the hospital. The six of them walked in together.

"Hello," Velma said to the admissions clerk. "We're here to see Rachel Keller. She's a patient here." The admissions clerk typed Rachel's name into the computer, then looked back up at Velma.

"I'm sorry," she said. "She's not awake yet."

"What?" Daphne was baffled. "But she and Aidan had their seizures four days ago!"

"Look ma'am," said the receptionist. "I'm not a doctor. I don't know what's up with them, but neither one is awake yet. If you give me your phone number, though, I will call you when they do wake up."

The members of the gang looked at each other. Daphne shrugged and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down her cell phone number, since she knew she had already given the paramedics the number for the hotline. And, feeling very defeated, they returned to the Mystery Machine. The ride home, too, was silent. Scooby sat with his head glumly outside the passenger seat window, Daphne twiddled her thumbs in her lap and Fred stared straight ahead at the road. Velma fell asleep with her head on Shaggy's shoulder and he fell asleep his head on her head. Normally, Lorelei would have been cheered up by this.

But she was rather preoccupied at the moment.

"_You can't stop me, no matter how hard you try." _

There was the voice that she had heard in her head all week. Lorelei shut her eyes and found herself in an almost dream-like world, face to face with none other than Samara Morgan.

The two girls stood facing each other, Samara's hair falling over her face.

"…What's happening?" Lorelei asked. She wasn't sure if she was physically speaking or not.

"I told you I was coming for you," Samara told her. Lorelei's heart skipped several beats.

"What do you mean?" Suddenly, it occurred to Lorelei. "You're the voice I've been hearing in my head all week. You're the one who's been causing me to see weird things. You…" Lorelei stared at her. "You killed Jonathan and his friends."

"That's right," Samara smiled. Lorelei wasn't sure how she knew that Samara was smiling – she still couldn't see her face. "I killed Patrick, too. Mary Jane is next. No one can stop me – I'm everywhere."

"Why are you _here_?" Lorelei asked, her voice trembling in fear. "Aunt Velma broke the curse and…my last day isn't until tomorrow."

"You broke the curse, too," Samara told her. Lorelei stared at her.

"How?"

"I can't tell you that," Samara said. "I don't want people to know how to break the curse. I want them all to die. Everyone will suffer."

"What…this is about _revenge_?" Lorelei was appalled.

"I've missed being in the real world," Samara told her. "The only time I get a chance is when someone watches my tape and then I kill them a week later. I want to live again. And I found my chance with you."

"What are you…?" Suddenly, everything made sense to Lorelei. Everything. "That first day at the Gates' house…I saw your reflection in the TV. And when I touched it, it rippled…and your spirit came into me." Lorelei's breath began coming quicker and quicker. "You possessed me! That's why I've been hearing your voice in my head all week! And…I haven't been having visions! _You've_ been having _memories_!"

"You're smart," Samara asked. "You know, my original plan was to take over your body when you died so that I could live again through you but…since you broke my curse, we'll just have to share a body." Lorelei's eyes widened.

"Get out of my head!" she shouted. Samara lunged for her and the two girls grappled for a few minutes. Samara found a rock lying on the ground (where were they, anyway, were they inside Lorelei's mind or what?) and slammed it into Lorelei's head. Lorelei's sight went black…

Samara blinked a couple times. She was in the back of a van. Two people – Velma and Shaggy – were sleeping against each other. A dog – Scooby – was hanging his head out the window. A blonde man was driving, and a redheaded woman sat beside him. Samara knew their names were Fred and Daphne. She had complete access to Lorelei's mind.

"_Give me my body back!" _shouted Lorelei's disembodied voice from inside Samara's head. Samara smiled sinisterly. She could feel another part of her getting ready to kill. She knew Mary Jane's time was coming…

x.X.x

When the gang arrived back home, Shaggy checked the messages on the hotline. A few minutes later, he hung up glumly.

"Like, that was Detective Edelbrock," Shaggy told them. "They just found Mary Jane dead, too."

"I can't imagine what I did that they didn't," Velma said. "I've been thinking about it all day, but I have no idea." She and Shaggy held hands as Shaggy used his other hand to scratch Scooby between the ears. Fred's arm was around Daphne. Everyone seemed glum, but no one noticed Lorelei smiling. No one knew that she was no longer Lorelei, of course. They had no way of knowing.

"Let's get some rest, gang," Fred finally sighed. "We'll try to figure things out some more in the morning."

"All right, Freddie," everyone ad-libbed. The four adults walked upstairs. Scooby almost followed, but turned to Lorelei at the last minute.

"Roo roming, Rorelei?" he asked.

"I…I'll stay down here a little longer," Samara replied. Scooby shrugged and walked upstairs. Once he was gone, Samara smiled to herself again. She was free at last. She walked the halls of headquarters for the remainder of the night, singing softly to herself:

"_R__ound we go  
The world is spinning  
When it stops  
It's just begining  
Sun comes up  
We laugh and we cry  
Sun goes down  
And then we all die…"_

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**Sponge: Yeah, this chapter is a tad shorter than the rest of them (okay well, a LOT shorter) but…just as intense, right? I mean, Lorelei is possessed by an evil spirit of a very jealous little girl. What will happen next? Only one way to ****find out, my good fans: REVIEW!**


	11. Chapter 11: Lorelei

**Sponge: Hey everyone! Here comes chapter 11! I feel like this one is going to be pretty intense, too. There are some more plot points from **_**The Ring Two**_** in this chapter, so be prepared! Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring **_**or **_**The Ring Two**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Enjoy chapter 11!**

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**Chapter 11: Lorelei**

Scooby was the first one awake the next morning. Shaggy had spent the night with Velma again, so Scooby, trying to respect their privacy, had waited in Lorelei's room for her to come up to bed. Scooby didn't like sleeping alone. However, when he woke up the next morning, the girl wasn't there. Scooby figured she was awake already and went downstairs in search of her – and some breakfast.

"Rood rorning, Rorelei!" Scooby barked joyfully upon seeing the girl standing, staring out the kitchen window. "Rid roo rust rake rup?" Lorelei didn't answer. Scooby tried again. "Rorelei, rid roo reep rell?"

"I never sleep," Lorelei answered. Scooby stared at her, unsure of what she meant. Obviously the girl slept – Scooby had slept by her side on more than one occasion that week. Had she meant that she hadn't slept at all that night? Scooby was incredibly puzzled, and didn't know what to make of it. Scooby stared at the girl at the window in confusion.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Shaggy and Velma were awaking next to each other again, although Velma was less joyous this morning.

"Like, you okay, Velms?" asked Shaggy.

"I suppose," she sighed. "I'm worried, though. Today is Lorelei's last day to live and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do about the curse."

"Like, what time did she watch the tape? Eleven at night?" Shaggy asked. "We have like, plenty of time before then, man." Shaggy kissed Velma gently on the forehead. "Don't worry. I'm like, positive that we'll figure this out."

Meanwhile, across the hall, Daphne was awakened by the ringing of her cell phone.

"Mmmmph," she grumbled. "Who is calling me?" She didn't recognize the number on the window on the outside of her phone, but she answered it anyway. "Hello?" She woke up a little more after the person answered. "He is? …Oh, that's fantastic!...What? A second number? Oh that's just the hotline. You don't need to call it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Daphne flipped her phone shut and jumped out of bed.

"Daph, what's going on?" Fred asked sleepily (he had spent the night with her again).

"That was the hospital in Astoria," she told him. "Aidan – Rachel's son – is awake."

x.X.x

Once everyone else was out of bed, they headed for Astoria. Lorelei didn't say a word the entire way, and Velma noticed.

"Lorelei, are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Lorelei replied, staring out the window. Velma, like Scooby, could tell something was different about Lorelei. She'd seemed strange ever since the ride home from Astoria yesterday. Maybe she was just nervous – it was her final day to live, after all.

"Don't worry, Lorelei," Velma said. "We'll solve this mystery before eleven o'clock." Velma wasn't actually sure of this – she was just hoping. She still hadn't told Dottie that the curse apparently _hadn't_ been broken for her or Lorelei. All she knew was that she and her friends had to work fast.

What Velma didn't know was that Lorelei's curse had been broken – though Lorelei herself didn't know how she'd done it. Velma was also unaware that it wasn't her niece that she comforted, but Samara Morgan in the body of her niece. Samara smiled to herself when she noted that her handprint was still on Velma's forearm. It was still on Lorelei's forearm, too, though the handprints were both fading rather quickly.

It didn't matter if Lorelei and Velma had broken the curse. Samara had taken over Lorelei's body. She had triumphed.

x.X.x

Scooby, too, could tell that something was off about Lorelei, but he couldn't exactly place his paw on it. He continued to wonder what exactly it was as they entered the hospital. The admissions clerk pointed them down the hallway to Aidan's room, and they walked along in near silence.

"Do you really think he'll be able to help us?" Fred asked. "I mean, his mother is the one who watched the tape, right?"

"Well, maybe she told him something," Daphne replied.

"I don't know, Daph," Fred said. "It seems pretty unlikely that she would tell her young son anything about a mysterious videotape that kills the viewer."

"But you have to wonder, then, why Aidan had a seizure at the same time that his mother did," Velma said.

"Maybe he watched the tape, too?" Daphne suggested. "That's a possibility."

"Well, we can ask him now," Velma said. They had arrived at Aidan's room and walked in as a group. "Hi, Aidan," Velma said when they entered. "Do you remember me? I came to see your mom the other day?"

"…Yes, I remember," Aidan replied. "I don't remember what happened next, though…"

"Aidan, the reason I came to see your mother is because I had a question for her." Velma was suddenly struck by a sudden thought – what if Aidan began seizing again? She had to persevere, though. She swallowed. "Do you…" She couldn't find the words, but Aidan realized what she was trying to say.

"You want to know about the tape?" he asked. Velma and the others stared at him.

"…Did you…?" Velma began.

"Yes, I've watched it."

Samara suddenly went rigid as she realized that the boy was going to tell them how to break the curse. She couldn't let it happen. She stepped to the side so that she was facing the boy. Aidan saw her and screamed.

The adults jumped in surprise.

"Aidan, what's the matter?" asked Velma.

"She's here!" Aidan cried, pointing. The others whirled around, but saw only Lorelei, looking confused. Aidan, however, saw Samara.

And for a brief moment, Scooby did also.

x.X.x

Aidan had begun seizing again, so the gang was forced to return to headquarters. Samara smiled to herself, proud that she had thwarted the efforts of the gang. She didn't notice Scooby slinking over to where Velma sat and whispering to her.

"Relma," he murmured. "Rye rink rare's romething rong rith Rorelei." It took Velma a minute to translate what he said – Shaggy was asleep and couldn't help.

"I think there's something wrong with Lorelei, too," Velma said. "I think she's just worried."

"Ruh-uh," Scooby said, shaking his head. "Rut's rong ris…rit _risn't_ Rorelei!"

"What do you mean it isn't Lorelei?" Velma whispered, stealing a glance at the girl at the window. She looked like Lorelei, she sounded like Lorelei…but Velma couldn't deny that she sure wasn't _acting _like Lorelei.

"Rye raw rer rin re rospital," Scooby told her quietly. "Ren Raidan reamed…Rye raw rut re raw."

"What did he see, Scooby?" Velma whispered.

"Ramara," Scooby answered. Velma's heart skipped several beats. She glanced at the girl at the window again and for one brief second, Samara's body had replaced Lorelei's. Velma looked back at Scooby and began to understand. At least, somewhat.

"Samara took over Lorelei's body," Velma realized. "But how? And why?"

"Rut rood re roo?" Scooby asked.

"I don't know," Velma replied. "I'll think of something…"

x.X.x

Since the drive to and from Astoria was so long, Velma had a lot of time to think of a plan. She couldn't help remembering the story of how Samara came to be in the Morgan's care...Evelyn had tried to drown her as an infant.

When they returned to HQ it was extremely late.

"Lorelei, it's late," Velma said. "Do you want to go to sleep?"

"I never sleep," Lorelei responded. Everyone glanced at each other, puzzled. Only Velma and Scooby knew that it was Samara saying those words. They knew Samara never slept because of all those years living in the barn with the horses.

"Okay…" Velma tried a different approach. "Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"

"Like, I'm hungry," said Shaggy who, like the rest of the gang, had no idea what Velma had up her sleeve. "How about I make us a couple sandwiches?"

"Re roo!" Scooby exclaimed. Shaggy laughed.

"Like, okay Scoob. I'll make you a Scooby Snack sandwich. In fact, I'll make everyone sandwiches." He headed for the kitchen and Velma followed close behind. She rummaged in a few of the cupboards.

"Like, Velma, what are you doing?" Shaggy asked, puzzled. She selected a bottle of pills and brought them to Shaggy.

"I need you to put these in Lorelei's sandwich," she told him. Shaggy glanced at the pills, and glanced back at Velma in shock.

"Velms these are like, sleeping pills." Shaggy looked at her warily. "Like, what's going on?"

"I think Lorelei's in trouble," Velma told him. She couldn't explain to him why – she herself wasn't even certain. "I think I know a way to help her, but I can only do it if you put these sleeping pills into Lorelei's sandwich." Her eyes pleaded behind her glasses. "I need you to do this for me, Shaggy. For Lorelei." Shaggy sighed. He had no idea what Velma was going on about, but he trusted her. So he took the pills from her.

"Like, I will," Shaggy responded. Velma stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you," she said. With that, she left the kitchen.

"Velma, what's going on?" Daphne asked. She had seen Velma give the bottle of sleeping pills to Shaggy and had mentioned it to Fred. The two of them stared at her, their eyes full of questions.

"You'll find out," Velma told them. Minutes later, Shaggy called everyone into the kitchen for their sandwiches. Everyone chewed silently while Velma kept a watch on Lorelei out of the corner of her eye. When the girl had finished her sandwich, she yawned and fell asleep in her chair almost immediately. Velma pushed herself back from the table – it was time to move.

"Scooby," she said to the Great Dane. "Go upstairs and run the water to start a bath."

"Rokay, Relma." Scooby wasn't sure what Velma's intentions were either, but he trusted her judgment – and he knew they had to save Lorelei. So he scampered upstairs as Velma picked up the girl in her arms and carried her out of the kitchen.

"All right Velma," Fred said as the gang followed her up the stairs. "What's happening?"

"Lorelei's in trouble," Velma said. "And I think this will help her." She went into the bathroom and dunked her niece, fully clothed, into the bathtub and held her head under. The other adults were in an uproar.

"Velma, what are you doing?" Daphne exclaimed – had her friend gone crazy?

"Rust rer!" Scooby barked. Shaggy was torn. He _did _trust Velma…but why was she trying to drown her niece?

"Hey, what's that?" Fred asked, pointing to something white rising from the bathtub. Everyone looked and was shocked to discover a face within the white. They recognized the face as the one that belonged to Samara Morgan – they had all seen her in the examination video – her face obscured by her hair.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she cried as her spirit disintegrated into the air. Hurriedly, Velma pulled Lorelei out of the water. She was coughing and sputtering.

"Lorelei, are you all right?" Velma asked. The girl coughed a big more before looking back at her aunt.

"…You saved me, Aunt Velma," she whispered. Overjoyed that her niece was back to normal, Velma hugged her, not caring that the girl was drenched and dripping all over her orange sweater.

"Would someone please explain to me what's going on?" asked Fred, who was very confused along with the rest of the gang.

"Well, I think Lorelei can explain it better than I can," Velma said, handing the proverbial reigns over to her niece. Daphne had run to get a towel and a blanket for Lorelei so when she returned, Lorelei wrapped herself up in them and began her tale.

"Well, you know how all week, ever since we watched the tape, I've been having visions and hearing voices in my head and stuff?" Lorelei told them. "Well, yesterday on the way back from Astoria, I realized that person who was talking to me in my head was Samara Morgan. When we went to the Gates' house that first night, she came into my body when I touched the TV. All week long, I've been hearing her voice and sharing her mind. The visions weren't visions at all – they were just things that Samara remembered. So yesterday, we had some kind of confrontation…I guess it was in my mind...and she told me that at first she'd wanted to take over my body when I died from watching the tape, but apparently I broke the curse-"

"Hold on," Velma interrupted, holding her hands up. "You broke the curse, too?"

"I guess," Lorelei said, annoyed at being interrupted. "She didn't tell me how, though. Anyway, so then she took over my body completely and I was stuck in my mind and it was really weird. But then Aunt Velma saved me." She glanced at her aunt. "How did you know that drowning would work?"

"I didn't," Velma told her truthfully. "I just acted on a hunch. I remembered that Evelyn had tried drowning Samara as a baby, so-" Velma broke off suddenly.

"Like what is it?" asked Shaggy.

"Shh!" Daphne hissed. "Do you hear that?" The six of them were silent for a few moments. They heard a fuzzy sound, almost like…

"We…we didn't leave the TV on downstairs, did we?" asked Daphne hesitantly.

"We didn't even turn it on when we came in the house," Fred replied. Slowly, everyone made their way out of the bathroom and crept down the stairs. To their horror, they saw a picture of the well on the screen of the TV…and Samara Morgan climbing out of the screen.

"Oh my God!" Daphne shrieked. Everyone screamed as Samara began crawling out of the screen. Scooby dove into the kitchen in fear. On the counter, he spotted his sandwich – which he hadn't finished – and remembered that Shaggy had put some Scooby Snacks in it. On an impulse, Scooby swallowed the sandwich in one gulp and leapt back out into the main room. In a rare, brave moment of courage, Scooby pounced on the girl who was trying to climb into their living room via a television, pushing her back in. However, Samara had grabbed hold of Scooby's collar, and she dragged him in with her.

"SCOOBY!" cried everyone as they watched the dog get sucked into the world of the cursed video.

x.X.x

When Scooby opened his eyes again, he found himself inside someplace cramped, dark and wet. He realized he was standing in water and upon looking up, he saw a large, circular hole. He realized that he was inside the well.

"Row rid Rye ret reer?" Scooby wondered before remembering that Samara had pulled him in as he grappled with her back at headquarters. He needed to get out. Placing his paws on either side of the well (it wasn't that wide), he began to climb up rather easily. About halfway up, however, he noticed a stirring in the water beneath him. He looked down and saw Samara emerging from the water below. She, too, began climbing up the side of the well in an almost spider-like fashion.

Scooby's eyes widened as he continued to climb. At one point, one of his paws slipped and he fell a little way down. He landed on top of Samara's head, who swiped at him, but Scooby kicked her with his back paw and scrambled up the well. He climbed out and found the stone top on the ground and quickly put it over the opening. He heard Samara land with a splash back in the water and sighed in relief.

However, when he took in his surroundings, he was extremely puzzled. The world he was in was monochromatic, black and white and fuzzy. He had no idea what to do next.

"Scooby Doo! Where are you?"

Scooby recognized Shaggy's voice.

"Rover rere!" Scooby didn't know where Shaggy's voice was coming from, but it was soon joined by the voices of the other members of the gang, and Lorelei.

"Scooby, we can see you through the screen," Lorelei was saying. "Can you see us?"

"Ro," Scooby said. He could only see the well, and a bunch of trees.

"Follow the sounds of our voices, Scooby," Velma said. Scooby walked towards the voices. He found himself wandering through the trees until he came to a cliff. Velma and Lorelei, on the other side of the TV, recognized it as the cliff that Anna had jumped off of.

"Like Scoob, you're going to have to jump off the cliff," said Shaggy. Scooby heard his voice coming from the bottom of the cliff. Determined to follow his voice, Scooby let himself fall.

x.X.x

When he landed, he found himself back in the living room, with everyone hugging him and petting him.

"You saved the day, Scooby!" Lorelei said, smiling. Scooby beamed.

"Rye rid!" he proclaimed, proudly. He looked around. Here he was, back in his home, surrounded by his best friends in the world, all treating him like a hero.

He couldn't remember feeling happier.

"Like, come on, Scoob," Shaggy said. "Let's go to sleep." The dog bounded up the stairs after his master as everyone else followed.

"Yeah," said Lorelei. "I am so tired. Samara wasn't kidding when she said she never slept." Everyone laughed and walked up the stairs, where they would all sleep peacefully for the first time all week.

x.X.x

Samara sat inside the well, sneering. Little did that foolish dog know that nothing could stop her. She knew she would be set free soon enough. Lorelei's time had come and gone – there was nothing Samara could do about it.

But she did have one means of revenge on the girl. And it would take place tomorrow night. Samara smiled sinisterly to herself. It wouldn't be long now.

* * *

**Sponge: Yep. So. Reviews? Please and thank you!**


	12. Chapter 12: Dottie

**Sponge: Holy cats! It's the penultimate chapter, everyone! (Just in case no one knows, 'penultimate' means 'next-to-last'). Every single question will be answered in this chapter…though I guess really the only remaining question is "how in the world do you break the curse?" So…that question will be answered in this chapter. Oh also: pretty much the entire beginning of the chapter has rather graphic descriptions of romance. Again: it's not a lemon and I'll try not to be TOO graphic, but I just want to warn you all. If anyone wants to skip over it, it starts at the first x.X.x thing and ends at the next x.X.x thing. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Enjoy chapter 12!**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Dottie**

The next morning, Scooby awoke at the foot of Shaggy's bed completely free of worry. It was such a strange sensation, having nothing at all to worry about. But it was true. Lorelei was back to normal and Samara was trapped in her well. She wouldn't bother any one again. Smiling to himself, Scooby turned to see that Shaggy and Velma were still asleep in each others arms – Velma had decided to stay in Shaggy's room that night. The dog stretched, hopped off the bed and padded out of the room, just to check and see how Lorelei was doing.

She was asleep in her bed, dozing soundly. Scooby grinned wider. He was so happy that the girl was safe at last. He tried to climb onto the foot of her bed quietly, but he wound up waking her up anyway.

"Rorry, Rorelei," he apologized when the girl sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Rye ridn't rean ro rake roo rup."

"It's okay, Scooby. I was pretty much awake anyway," Lorelei yawned. "What are you doing in here? Didn't you sleep in Shaggy's room last night?"

"Rye ranted roo rake rure roo rere rokay."

Lorelei smiled and scratched Scooby between his ears. "I'm doing just fine, Scooby. And it's all thanks to you." Scooby thumped his tail on Lorelei's bed happily. "You know," Lorelei said. "I know that Mom's coming to pick me up sometime this evening, but how about this morning I take you for a walk through the park again? Just for old times' sake?"

"Rokay!" Scooby barked happily. Lorelei giggled and climbed out of bed.

"Let me get out of my pajamas and we can head out."

When they got downstairs, they found they were not the only ones awake. Daphne and Fred were standing in the kitchen staring at each other lovingly.

"…What are you doing?" Lorelei asked. The two jumped at her voice and turned red when they realized that she and Scooby had come into the kitchen.

"Well…we were going to eat breakfast," Daphne said. "But then we realized that we're pretty much out of food…"

Lorelei glanced at Scooby. He held up his paws in defense.

"Rot re! Rust re Raggy!"

"Right," Lorelei said to the dog. Back to Daphne and Fred, she said, "So to make up for the lack of food in the house, you decided to make goo-goo eyes at each other?" The pair blushed harder.

"We're going to the store," Fred said, ignoring Lorelei's question.

"Oh. Scooby and I are going for a walk," Lorelei said. She glanced at a pad of paper that was on the kitchen counter. "I guess we should leave Aunt Velma and Shaggy a note so that they don't wake up and freak out that there's no one in the house."

"That's a good idea," Daphne said, retrieving a pen from her purse and scribbling something onto the first sheet on the pad.

x.X.x

Later, Velma awoke in a strange room…but upon taking a second glance, she recognized the familiarity of Shaggy's bedroom. Velma had never slept in there before – actually, to her memory, she'd never actually set foot in the room – but she had passed by while the door was open on several occasions. Glancing at the clock, she noticed that it was 10:30 in the morning. Velma rarely ever slept that late (not counting the two occasions this past week when the entire gang had woken up in the middle of the day). She figured everyone else had already awoken and eaten breakfast – how strange that no one would wake her when they discovered how late it was. Quietly slipping out from beneath the covers, Velma crept back into her own room and changed into her trademark orange sweater and red skirt and went downstairs.

Surprisingly, no one was there. Velma was utterly confused until she saw a note on the kitchen table, written in Daphne's neat handwriting:

_Dear Velma and Shaggy – _

_Freddie and I noticed that we're out of food, so the two of us went to the grocery store. Also, when we come back, we were wondering if you guys wanted to go to the malt shop to celebrate the end of the mystery, just like old times._

_See you when we get back!_

_Love, Daphne and Fred._

Beneath that, Velma noticed her niece's scrawl.

_P.S: Scooby and I went for a walk in the park. Scooby denies eating all the food and blames it on Shaggy, but I don't know if he's telling the truth or not. Anyway…that's where Scooby and I are!_

_Love, Lorelei and Scooby._

Velma smiled as she put the note back on the table. Just to check, she opened the door of the refrigerator. Daphne was right – there was barely any food left. Velma shook her head in amusement, shut the refrigerator and turned to find Shaggy standing in the kitchen door, still in his pajamas (or pajama, rather, since he didn't wear a shirt to bed). He smiled at her.

"Like, where's everyone else?" he asked.

"Read the note," Velma gestured to the piece of paper on the kitchen table. Shaggy took it in one of his hands and skimmed over it with his eyes. When he finished, he put it down indignantly.

"Like, Scoob _would_ blame me for eating all the food," Shaggy grumbled. Velma laughed.

"Well, he's not here, so there's not much you can do about it," she told him.

"Yeah. Like, everyone's gone but us. We have the house to ourselves."

Upon that realization, the two looked at each other. Velma's heart beat rapidly in her chest. They were alone for who knew _how_ long? Coolsville Park was huge, and Scooby liked to take long walks. And Fred and Daphne were certain to be doing _more_ than just grocery shopping. Shaggy and Velma could, hypothetically, be alone for hours.

After about fifteen seconds of absolute silence, they burst out laughing.

"Well, what should we do?" Velma asked once the laughter had subsided. Shaggy also knew the probability that they would be alone for a long time.

"Like, here's an idea," Shaggy murmured, approaching Velma and gently placing his lips on hers.

Velma had figured that would be where things would go, and she didn't mind a bit. She kissed him back and their lips moved together. Despite how skinny his arms were, Shaggy's grip on her was surprisingly sturdy. His hands pulled down the turtleneck of her sweater and his lips left hers so that they could access the tender skin of her neck. Suddenly, Velma thought of something.

"Uh, Shag?" she said, and he looked up. "There's a window right there." She pointed.

"Oh, zoinks. Like, why don't we move somewhere move private?" he suggested. They smiled at each other, and he took her by the hand and led her back upstairs. Once back in his room, he shut the door and kissed her again. While it was still rather gentle, it was much more passionate than the other times they had kissed in these past few days. Velma felt her knees buckle a little. Sure, she'd done some similar stuff with Patrick, but it was different with him. He hadn't made her feel like this.

Then again, Velma hadn't been in love with Patrick.

"I think I may have to sit down," Velma breathed, taking a seat on the bed. Shaggy followed her, still smiling. She smiled, too. "Okay, we can continue now." The two of them laughed for a bit before Shaggy leaned in and kissed her once again. He placed one hand on her back, bringing her closer to him, and placed the other in her hair. Velma placed one of her hands on his neck, tracing her thumb along the stubble on his face. Her other hand ran its fingers through his messy light brown hair. Then, Shaggy did something that surprised her. Then, it didn't surprise her.

He slipped his tongue inside her mouth. Velma hadn't exactly been expecting this…only, she had been. He did it tentatively, but when she made no motion or noise of resistance, he relaxed. Velma let his tongue explore her mouth before she took her turn.

When Velma's tongue had entered his mouth, Shaggy felt a jolt go down his spine. He'd never actually believed that Velma would be okay with this. But to his surprise, she was. He felt her hands leave his neck and travel down his bare back. Her fingers were soft and gentle, and Shaggy let out a quiet noise of pleasure.

"I feel strange, with you sitting here shirtless while I'm still fully clothed," Velma admitted.

"Like, we can fix that," Shaggy said. They grinned at each other. Shaggy reached for the hem of Velma's sweater, but he paused. "Like, I gotta ask this before things go further, Velms." He looked at her. "Like…how far have you gone?" Shaggy felt himself blush to the roots of his hair. What an awkward question. What an awkward situation to ask the question in.

"Well…" Velma said, avoiding his eyes. "Obviously I haven't…you know. I'm still a virgin. But…I've done pretty much everything else." She sighed.

Shaggy's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. Who had known Velma was that experienced? Shaggy imagined she'd gotten most of her experience from Patrick (he scowled inwardly, but not for long upon remembering that Patrick was dead), but he'd never thought that Velma and Patrick would go as far as they had. Shaggy himself had gotten most of his experience with Mary Jane, although he too was still a virgin.

"Like, same here," Shaggy said. "I mean…you know. I'm still a virgin but I've done a lot." Velma stared at him. She'd been so sure…

"You mean you and Mary Jane never…?" She couldn't finish the sentence.

"Like, no way," Shaggy replied, shaking his head. "Like I said before, she was cool and everything, but I wasn't in love with her. I've always wanted my first time to like, be with someone I loved you know?" Shaggy's face grew even redder and hotter than it had been. Oh dear God, she was going to think he was so lecherous! He had basically just insinuated that he wanted to make love to Velma right there. Which he didn't _exactly_ want, but…well, that is to say that he didn't _want_ to – he certainly did. But right then was not the time.

Luckily for him, Velma seemed to think the same way.

"I've always wanted that, too," she told him. "And I love you, I do, but..."

"Right," Shaggy said. "Now is like, not the time."

"I mean, you don't have any…?"

"Condoms?" Shaggy asked. "Like, no. I don't even own any." He moved one of his hands to her face and gently stroked her cheekbone with his thumb. "But like…maybe one day…?"

Velma's heart swelled with adoration. It was hard enough to believe that she could love someone so much and that he loved her back…but to think that the person wanted to make love to her when they had all the proper equipment at their disposal? She was at such a loss for words that she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again with so much passion that Shaggy saw stars.

In one swift movement, he slipped Velma's orange sweater off of her and discarded it on the floor. They stopped kissing briefly so he could look at her. Who'd have believed that Velma had a Daphne-esque figure under that bulky sweater? Well, it wasn't quite Daphne-esque. But Velma was slender and petite and had curves in all the right places. Her bra was white and lacy, and it had a clasp in the front. Shaggy smiled as he looked at her.

At first, Velma hadn't been sure of what to do. Patrick had never stopped in his task to look at her once her shirt was off – he just kept kissing. Something about the fact that Shaggy paused to take her in made Velma feel important. And loved. She brought her lips back to his and he gently helped her lie back on the bed. Their tongues swirled together as Shaggy fumbled with the clasp on Velma's bra. Smiling to herself, Velma helped him. She had forgotten how wonderful it was – how incomparably blissful it felt – to have the feel of someone else's skin above her own. And she'd never imagined how incredible it would be when the skin belonged to Shaggy.

x.X.x

"Hey Scooby, I've got a question," Lorelei said as she and the dog continued on through the park.

"Reah?"

"What's Shaggy's real name? I mean, there's no way his birth certificate just says 'Shaggy', right?" This question had been puzzling Lorelei for ages, ever since the aptly nicknamed man had first showed up on her doorstep over a week ago.

"Rorville Rogers," Scooby said. Lorelei stared at him.

"…Could you repeat that?" she asked. She'd caught 'Rogers' as the last name, but she'd had no idea what his first name was.

"Rorville. Rogers," Scooby repeated slowly. Lorelei still wasn't getting it.

"How do you spell his first name?" she asked. Scooby sighed.

"Ren. Ro. Rar. Rvee. Rye. Rell. Rell. Ree."

"_Norville?" _Lorelei was baffled. "Ugh. I'm just going to keep calling him Shaggy." Scooby laughed, and Lorelei did too. The two of them talked about quite a lot on the way home, but all conversation stopped when they arrived back. The Mystery Machine was still gone (what _were_ Fred and Daphne doing?) and the house was rather quiet.

"You don't think Aunt Velma and Shaggy are still asleep, do you?" asked Lorelei quietly.

"Rye ron't rink ro," Scooby whispered.

They weren't asleep. They were, however, resting from their intense make-out session. When they heard the front door open, though, they put their shirts back on and went downstairs to see who it was.

"Oh, hi you guys!" Velma said when she saw her niece and Scooby.

"Hi Scoob!" Shaggy cried as the Great Dane barreled towards him and knocked him off his feet. Lorelei and Velma giggled. "Like, how was your walk?"

"Rit ras rood!" Scooby replied as Shaggy got back on his feet. "Rar Red rand Raphne rill rat re rore?"

"I guess so," Shaggy replied. "I'm like, really hungry. I hope they get back soon."

x.X.x

They did return home a few minutes later, loaded with food (half of which Shaggy and Scooby devoured right there). After all the food had been put away (or eaten), the gang headed for the malt shop. It was Lorelei's first time ever going there.

"We've had some pretty good memories in this booth, huh gang?" Fred asked as they all sat.

"Yep," Daphne sighed. "Reading the headlines in the paper about the most recent case we cracked."

"Tell me about some of your mysteries," Lorelei said, sipping her soda.

"Well, there was the Black Knight ghost," Velma said. "That was our first."

"And then like, there was Captain Cutler," Shaggy added.

"Pietro's Puppet Master," Daphne said.

"The Phantom of Haunted Isle," Fred chipped in. Lorelei sat back and listened as her aunt and her friends continued to list all the frightening imposters they'd encountered over the years.

"The Zombie and the Witch of Swamp's End."

"The Creeper."

"The Tar Monster."

"Like, remember that castle that had the werewolf, the vampire, the zombie and the crazy gypsy lady in the wagon?"

"How could I forget? I was trapped in a dungeon for most of it."

"Well, you _are_ Danger Prone Daphne," Velma smiled at her friend.

"Hey!"

They all began laughing, Lorelei included. It sounded like her aunt and her friends had had a lot of fun solving mysteries all these years.

"Were any of them particularly scary?" she asked.

"I didn't really like Moonscar Island all that much," Velma told her. "That was the first place we encountered real monsters."

"And then there was Oakhaven," said Daphne.

"And the aliens," Fred continued.

"Ron't rorget Rooky Ryeland rand re Ruseum Roasts!" Scooby barked. Lorelei noticed that Shaggy and her aunt had gone rigid at all the mentions of the last four places. She didn't know that Velma and Shaggy had both had other illicit romantic relationships during those cases – the latter two, during which they had encountered Mary Jane and Patrick, respectively. Lorelei could, however, tell that they were touchy subjects, so she tried to change it.

"What do you think was the most frightening case you've ever had to solve?" she asked. The group went silent for a while.

"This one," Velma said after a few moments, and everyone murmured their agreement. "This is the first case we had where we didn't solve it in time. People have died. None of our cases have truly been a life and death matter until this one."

"You know, we technically didn't even solve this one all the way," Lorelei said. "We still don't know how to break the curse. We just kind of cheated." The adults and Scooby laughed.

"I hate to say this," Fred said, glancing at his watch. "But it's getting late. Dottie should be coming to get Lorelei any minute. We ought to go home." There was a pause.

"I'm really going to miss you guys," Lorelei said. "I mean…even though this mystery was literally a life-and-death matter…I had a lot of fun working with you guys."

"We had a good time with you too, Lorelei," Daphne said. Lorelei could feel herself tearing up, but she wasn't going to let them spill. She forced them back to their ducts by sheer willpower.

"I still have some packing to do," she sighed. "Fred's right. We should probably get going."

x.X.x

Back at HQ, once Lorelei's things were all packed, they waited in the main room for Dottie to come pick her up.

"Will I ever get to see you guys again?" Lorelei asked.

"Oh, of course you will!" Velma laughed. "Jinkies, you think just because this case is over we're going to let you drop off the face of the planet?" Lorelei giggled.

"If you ever need an extra person to help you…"

"We'll call you right away," Fred promised her with a smile. "Although we'll probably have to check with your mom first."

"I'm sure she'll let me," Lorelei said. "Seeing as how much I've helped you guys." She suddenly sat up. "Oh gosh, that reminds me!" She sprang up from her seat on the couch and ran into the lab. She returned with a few moments later with her copy of the mysterious tape – the one she had accidentally made.

"We should destroy this," Lorelei said. "I'm not sure where the original one is, but-"

"Oh, I already destroyed that one," Velma told her. "I had Daphne stomp it with her heels back when I first thought that the curse had been broken. I called Patrick and Mary Jane and told them to destroy their tapes, too."

"It's lucky I remembered this one was still around," Lorelei said. "Who knows what might have happened otherwise?" The gang got a box of matches and went outside with the intention of setting the tape on fire.

Suddenly, Lorelei looked at the copy was hit with a sudden realization.

"Hold on," she said, just as Fred was about to light the match. "I think I just figured out how to break the curse."

"How?" asked Fred.

"I can't believe we didn't realize this before," Lorelei muttered. "You have to copy the tape and then show it to someone else." She looked at them all. "You have to spread the evil."

"That makes sense!" It suddenly dawned on Velma. "I showed it to Patrick, and then I made a copy…and then Mary Jane watched the copy on accident."

"And then _I_ watched that copy," Lorelei said. "But since Mary Jane didn't copy it and show it to me, the curse hadn't been broken for her…and then I accidentally made a copy…and my mom watched that."

A cold feeling flooded through Velma.

"Jinkies," she muttered.

"What is it, Velms?" asked Daphne. Velma turned to her.

"Do you remember what happened the first day we visited Astoria?" she asked the redhead. "Rachel told us we had to spread the evil…and then right before she started seizing, she said 'she will never stop'." Velma breathed in raggedly. "She was talking about Samara Morgan."

"The well won't hold her forever, even with the top on," Daphne realized. "Dottie is still in danger."

There was a silence that lasted three seconds, and yet, lasted three centuries.

"We need to get to Lyonsville," Fred said. "Now."

x.X.x

Dottie was walking down the stairs, car keys in hand, prepared to drive to Coolsville to finally bring her daughter home. It wasn't at all that she believed that Lorelei was in bad hands – she knew now that she wasn't – but she missed her daughter and it was time to bring her home.

She was just about to leave when there was suddenly a sound from the living room.

Static on the TV.

Puzzled, Dottie turned around and headed for the living room. _Had the TV turned itself on? _Dottie wasn't sure how that would have happened. In any case, she turned the TV off. However, it turned on again a few seconds later. In an act of desperation, Dottie reached around and unplugged the TV from the socket. Strangely enough, the TV flickered back to life. This time, there was a picture on the screen of a black-and-white well with a large stone rolled over the top. Dottie knew she'd seen it somewhere before.

When the stone top flipped off the opening and a girl with long black hair climbed out, it occurred to Dottie. _The tape? But didn't Velma break the curse? _The girl began walking towards the camera until she was so close that she would either knock over the camera or walk right through the screen.

To Dottie's absolute horror, the latter happened.

She watched as the girl crawled out of her TV and stepped foot into her living room. Water began to trickle out of the TV – from the well, Dottie realized – and the girl began to advance slowly. Terrified, Dottie backed away from the girl but tripped over a snag in the carpet. She lay there, sprawled helplessly on the ground as the girl pulled back her hair to reveal her true deathly, decaying face. Dottie screamed.

x.X.x

The Mystery Machine sped through the streets of Coolsville, under the railway trestle into Lyonsville. Lorelei couldn't remember what time her mother had watched the tape, but she had a feeling it was coming up soon.

Finally, the group reached Lorelei's house. They leapt from the van and ran to the porch while Velma fumbled with the keys. However, she soon realized that the door was unlocked, so they rushed in.

What they saw horrified them all.

Dottie lay sprawled on the ground, her face warped into an expression of sheer terror. Water lay stagnant around the living room. The TV displayed static.

"…Mommy?" Lorelei murmured. It was the first time all week she'd ever referred to her mother as Mommy. Velma stared at her older sister's face, turned to face the TV and realized what had happened.

They were too late.

In a fit of rage, Velma flew to the TV screen and pounded on it.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?" she roared in anguish before she collapsed in tears. Lorelei, too, began to cry and threw her arms around Scooby and buried her face in his brown fur. Everyone was crying, or had some hint of a tear in their eyes. Daphne buried her face in Fred's chest, weeping silently as he stroked her hair and tried not to cry himself. Velma was still sobbing on her knees by the TV. Shaggy wiped away a few tears of his own eyes as he knelt beside her and gathered her up in his arms, where she drenched the front of his shirt with her tears. But he didn't care. He just held her and let her cry.

* * *

**Sponge: Yeah, so this chapter was kind of bipolar, huh? First all lovey-dovey and cutesy, then graphic, then nostalgic, than intriguing, then shocking, then "oh crap oh crap oh crap!" then sad. Sorry about the confusion of feelings, guys. I have to tell you, I went through so many emotions writing this chapter that now I'm exhausted. Anyway…tomorrow marks the conclusion of this story! Till then, review! See you tomorrow!**


	13. Chapter 13: Epilogue

**Sponge: Wow. The day has arrived at last…the final installment of "Scooby Doo and the Mysterious Tape: The Redux!" Zoinks! Jinkies! Jeepers! Ruh-roh! …Dang it, Fred needs a catch phrase. Anyway…this chapter really doesn't even qualify as a chapter because it's so short. It's really just an epilogue. In any case, I hope you appreciate how I resolve things. Also: tomorrow, I am officially moving this story to the crossover section, so if anyone else wants to recommend this story to their friends (hint, hint) you need to look there. ****Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters – they belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna-Barbera. I also don't own any of the characters or the plotline of **_**The Ring**_**. They belong to Dreamworks, Koji Suzuki, and Hideo Nakata. Enjoy chapter 13!**

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**Chapter 13: Epilogue**

The next day, the gang wore somber colors to a wake that Velma's parents hosted. They still lived in Coolsville, so they were willing to hold a wake for their oldest daughter. A bunch of Dottie's old friends from college came – including Rachel Keller, who had been released from the hospital the previous day. Velma wandered through the house she grew up in solemnly until she ran into her.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Rachel told her. "I know what it's like to lose someone to the curse."

"Who did you lose?" Velma asked, curiously.

"My ex-boyfriend, Noah. And my niece, Katie. She was sixteen."

Velma shuddered inwardly. She had lost her ex-boyfriend. And she'd almost lost her niece. She felt tears well up in her eyes.

"I should have figured it out sooner," she sighed. "I call myself a detective – I should have figured out how to break the curse sooner." Rachel looked at Velma sternly.

"Velma, you can't blame yourself," she said. "Blaming yourself accomplishes nothing. This is in no way your fault. I learned that a long time ago."

Velma sighed again. "Thanks, Rachel," she murmured. "But it certainly feels like it's my fault. If I hadn't been so caught up in this mystery, I wouldn't have figuratively orphaned my niece. She hasn't had a father for four years...and now she has no mother."

"Look," Rachel said, taking Velma firmly by the shoulders. "I went through the same emotions you're going through right now. And I suffered all the same horrors you did. But look at me – I'm okay now. Well, in a manner of speaking. But for the most part, Aidan and I live normal lives. You will too, after some time. You just have to let yourself get there." Rachel reached into her purse and dug out a business card. "I'm not a therapist or anything, but I do understand what you're going through. So if you need someone to talk to…"

"…Thank you," Velma said quietly as she took the business card and placed it in her own purse. Rachel smiled wanly at her.

"You'll be okay, Velma," Rachel promised. "And Lorelei will, too."

x.X.x

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the house, Lorelei was talking to Aidan, who had come along with his mother.

"Will you live with your dad?" he was asking. They were talking about Lorelei's future, which seemed rather bleak right now, considering she didn't know where she was going to live. She'd spent the night with the gang again, but she knew they were far to busy to be able to look after her all the time.

"I don't know," Lorelei sighed. "Probably not. My dad hasn't been around in four years. I'll probably live with Grandma and Grandpa." Lorelei liked her grandparents – she was hoping she would live with them. They were the best option next to living with Mystery Inc. Or with her own mother.

Rachel came up just then. "How are you doing, Lorelei?"

"Okay," Lorelei replied. It was a lie. She wasn't actually doing okay – she was worried and scared about what was going to happen to her. And of course, she was devastated about losing her mother. It hadn't quite hit her yet that her mother was actually gone.

"I knew your mother in college, you know," Rachel said. "You remind me of her. You have the same kind of spark that she did, even at your age. I promise you're going to bounce back from this. It'll take a while, but it'll happen." Lorelei stared at this lady she barely knew who had discovered the curse before anyone else she knew. She could still see the sadness and fear in her eyes. But Lorelei knew she was right.

"Thanks," she said quietly. Rachel smiled, then held out her hand for Aidan's.

"Come on sweetie. Time to go home." The two walked off and Lorelei watched them walk away. She sat on the couch glumly. She missed her mother so much.

x.X.x

Before Rachel and Aidan left, they ran into Shaggy and Scooby who (of course) were eating. "Hey," Rachel said to Shaggy. "Velma Dinkley is your girlfriend, right?"

"Like, yeah," Shaggy said as he swallowed. He was still getting used to the fact that they were actually 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' now. He'd never thought of himself having the former as a title – especially in regards to Velma. It was still so much to believe.

"You may want to go talk to her," Rachel said. "I spoke with her a few moments ago and it seems like she blames herself for what happened to her sister."

"Oh man," Shaggy sighed.

"Yeah." Rachel looked back. "Her niece isn't doing too well either." Shaggy and Scooby looked at each other.

"Rye'll ret Rorelei," Scooby offered, grabbing some food from the counter and strutting over to her. When he got there, he placed the food on her lap.

"What are you doing, Scooby?" she asked.

"Rey're realing roods!" Scooby told her.

"Healing foods?" Lorelei looked skeptical, but she ate a bite of one of the hors d'oeuvres that Scooby had brought over.

"Real retter?"

"A little," Lorelei confessed. "I'm just really sad."

"Rye roe," Scooby said as he nodded and licked Lorelei's hand affectionately. She grinned cheerlessly at the dog and patted his head.

"You're such a good friend, Scooby," she told him. "I think I'll miss you the most. I always wanted a dog." Scooby almost started crying, but instead he laid his head on her knee as she continued to pet him.

x.X.x

Shaggy, in the meantime, had gone over to where Velma was. He took her to a private corner to chat.

"Hey," he said softly. "You doing okay?" Ugh, why did he always have to ask such stupid questions?

"Not really," Velma admitted.

"Yeah, like, Rachel said you're blaming yourself for what happened." He looked at her sternly. "You can't do that, Velms. It wasn't your fault. It was like, nobody's fault. You know that, right?"

"I don't know," Velma said. "I don't know anything anymore." Her eyes began to well up but before the dam could break, Shaggy pulled her into an embrace and held her tightly. She cried silently into his chest.

"Shh," he comforted her. "Like, I know how bleak everything seems, but you can't blame yourself for this mess. None of it was your fault."

"I _failed_, Shaggy," she whimpered. "I didn't save Dottie or Patrick or Mary Jane…"

"But like, you saved Lorelei. And yourself," he whispered. "Rachel was right…there's like, no stopping her. There's nothing else you could have done. You did all you could do. You're like, a hero, Velms." Shaggy was uncomfortable saying Samara's name. He also wasn't sure he was helping all that much.

But apparently he was because after a few moments, Velma took a shuddering breath and looked up at him. He brushed the remnants of tears from her face.

"I love you," she told him softly.

"I love you, too," he replied, drawing him to her again.

x.X.x

While all this was going on, Fred and Daphne were having an interesting discussion with Velma's parents and a lawyer. They were all studying a document that the lawyer was holding in his hands.

"It seems as though she made a last minute change to her will," the lawyer was saying.

"…She had a will and she was only twenty-nine?" Daphne asked.

"Yes," the lawyer said. "Originally, she had wanted to place her daughter in the care of her husband if anything happened to her. But then a few years ago she changed the next guardian to her parents." The lawyer glanced at Mr. and Mrs. Dinkley. "I'm assuming you knew of this?"

"Yes," Marilyn – Velma's mother – nodded. "After Bill left her…"

"But then, two days ago," the lawyer continued, "she changed the guardian yet again to a Velma Dinkley. I'm assuming that's her sister?"

"Yes," Velma's father, Harold, told him. "I wonder why she would have changed it though…"

"Dottie realized that Lorelei was in good hands with us during the course of the mystery," Fred said. "Not saying that she wouldn't be in good hands with you, Mr. and Mrs. Dinkley, but…"

"I understand," Harold said with a small smile. "I'm sure Lorelei would have much more fun with you kids anyway." Harold knew, of course, that his daughter and her friends were no longer children, but he would always remember the curious monster-hunting teenagers they had been.

"Do you think that's possible?" Marilyn asked. "I know how incredibly busy you all are most of the time…"

"We spent this entire week trying to solve a mystery, Mrs. Dinkley," Daphne told her. "And Lorelei provided a lot of the help. She wouldn't be in the way at all."

"Well…if you need any help with anything…" Marilyn began.

"We'll call you right away," Fred finished her sentence for her. As they left to tell Velma of this new development, Fred started planning. "We'll enroll her in Coolsville Elementary School soon. It's too far to commute to Lyonsville. We'll have to move the rest of her stuff out of her old house, and-"

"Freddie, relax," Daphne interrupted him, smiling. "I'm sure everything will work out. In the meantime, do you think this news will cheer up Velma and Lorelei at all?"

"Well it sure as heck cheered _me_ up a little," Fred told her. "Let's hope it does the same for the rest."

x.X.x

After Fred and Daphne had told Shaggy and Velma of the new addition of Dottie's will, they approached the couch where Lorelei and Scooby had sat, finishing the appetizers.

"Hey Lorelei, we have some exciting news," Velma told her, kneeling in front of her niece so they were eye-level. Shaggy set next to the girl on her left, Daphne on her right, and Fred next to Daphne. Scooby was curled up on the floor next to Shaggy's feet.

"What news?" Lorelei asked rather listlessly.

"Well…your mom had a will, you know," Velma told her. "And in it, she explains her wishes of where you would live should anything…" Velma gulped – she wasn't able to finish the sentence. "Anyway…your mother's will says that if anything should happen, you would come live with me."

Lorelei looked at her aunt for a few moments of disbelief. "Are you saying…?"

"Do you want to live with us?" Velma asked. For the first time all day, Lorelei smiled genuinely.

"Of course I want to live with you!" she squealed, jumping from the couch and throwing her arms around her aunt so hard that they both fell backwards. Everyone laughed. "Does this mean I get to help you out with more mysteries?"

"Of course it does," Velma said.

"You can be like, an honorary member of Mystery Inc," Shaggy told her.

"Why can't I be a regular member?" Lorelei asked.

"Wait till you're at least fifteen," Fred told her. Lorelei rolled her eyes, but then beamed.

"I'm so much happier than I was before!" she exclaimed.

x.X.x

As everyone was going home later that afternoon, Lorelei sat in the back seat of the van as she took everything in. Scooby's head was hanging out the window, enjoying the breeze, Fred drove down the road while Daphne held onto his arm, and Shaggy and her aunt talked to each other earnestly about…something. Lorelei grinned to herself. _This is my new family_, she realized. Her heart still ached for the loss of her mother, and she knew that ache would never completely go away. But she also knew that her mother would have wanted her to be happy. Lorelei was fairly certain that she would be happy living with her Aunt Velma and her friends.

"Like, you know what I keep thinking, guys?" Shaggy now spoke to the entire van and everyone listened. "Rachel said that…'she' would never stop. Like…does anyone think she'll ever come back?"

"Who are you talking about? Samara?" asked Lorelei. The others all glanced at each other.

"Well…like, yeah," Shaggy said.

"I think she pretty much gave up on us after she tried possessing me," Lorelei told them. "When I was talking to Aidan at the wake, he told me that he'd been possessed by her once, too. But he still has nightmares about her…and he saw her at the hospital when she had taken over my body. So…I don't think she'll come back, but there's really no way of knowing." The others all shifted silently.

"At least we know what to do now if she ever comes back," Fred said.

"True," Daphne replied. "But what will happen to the people we show the tape to?"

"We don't have to worry about that right now," Velma said firmly. "For now, let's focus on getting Lorelei moved in and feeling at home."

"Aunt Velma," Lorelei said, looking at her aunt with a small smile. "I _already_ feel at home with you guys."

It wasn't much. And of course, they were all still sad and scared. But for the most part, everything was okay. And they were going to try to keep it that way for as long as they possibly could.

* * *

**Sponge: It's over! YAAAAAAAAAY! By which I mean WAAAAAAAAAH! Oh well. Everything has a beginning and an end, my fans, and this fan fic was no different. So, 13 chapters, almost 60,000 words, and 700,000 emotions later, this fic is complete. I'd like to give MAJOR shout outs to everyone who reviewed, particularly XxLadyStrengthxX just because I can't get over how awesome she is. I don't know if I'll ever write another Scooby story (or **_**The Ring**_** story, for that matter), but if I do, I hope you all will read and review with the same passion and enthusiasm that you did with this one. In any case…don't forget to tune in to Cartoon Network at 7:00 pm EST on Monday, July 12, 2010 to watch the premiere of the new Scooby Doo series! I, sadly, will be unable to watch it considering I will be on vacation (but I am TiVo-ing it, which I'm kind of embarrassed about, but whatever). In any case, I hope you enjoyed this story. Review, just for old times sake! Peace out!**


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